ABSTRACT
The critical need for public knowledge has produced a "legitimacy crisis" surrounding democratic policy formation. Elsewhere this crisis has been called democracy's technical information quandary. Environmental policy stimulates political action; it has been one of the main arenas of the fight for greater citizen involvement; and it strikes directly at the heart of the political and social values most typical of postindustrial societies. The environmental policy area is thus nearly ideal for testing the crucial role of knowledge in the relationship of individuals to the democratic political process in postindustrial societies. Value structures among citizens have been studied in some detail in Europe, as well as in Japan and the United States. However, the position is that the study of public knowledge and its impact is equally important to the concern with values. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
