ABSTRACT
An e-cigarette case, “Vaping Politics and Policy: Up in Smoke” highlights this chapter’s examination of the theoretical power and practicality of critiques of the rational model; and in this chapter readers get to apply theories to specific policy problems and experience value conflict’s role. Chapter 4 provides examples of the strength of various nonrational explanations of policy before detailing four overarching critiques of rationality: intellectual/analytical critique, cognitive critique, political/institutional critique, and ideological/philosophical critique. Topics covered include things such as satisficing, role theory, complexity, wicked problems and democracy, time pressures, SOPs, and research about the brain and cognitive predisposition. Additional challenges to the rational model discussed include the fallacy of black letter law, NIMBY, nondecisions, and the use of rationality and science in evaluating risk relative to GMOs, vaccinations, terrorism, and gluten-free diets. Also, two new boxes focus on the Just World Hypothesis and how politics makes us bad at mathematics.
