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THIS PAPER EXAMINES CHARACTERISTICS OF BELIEF SYSTEMS AMONG PEOPLE AT DIFFERENT LEVELS IN THE POLICY PROCESS USING THE SAME MEASURES IN THE SAME TIME PERIOD. SPECIFICALLY, IT ANALYZES BELIEF SYSTEMS CONCERNING THE ENVIRONMENT AMONG THE GENERAL PUBLIC, SEVERAL ATTENTIVE PUBLICS, AND STATE LEGISLATORS.

Max Neiman provides a concise, well-written, and compre-
hensive critical analysis of "the conservative attack on the
public sector, especially its explanation for and evaluation of
the size and growth of the public sector in the United States"
(p. viii). In doing so, however, he only partially fulfills what is
promised in the subtitle, namely, explaining why big govern-
ment works. Rather than explicitly assess the reasons for goal
achievement in a variety of policy areas, as the title implied to
me, Neiman focuses on why we have big government and on
the various critiques of that size. To be sure, the book is
appropriate for upper division and graduate courses in
political science, public policy, or public administration.

Part of a forum (1997 [see abstracts of related articles]) on Steven R. Brechin & Willet Kempton's assertion (1994 [see abstract 9504457]) that environmental concern is not explained by Ronald Inglehart's value change theory of postmaterialism (1990) because it occurs in countries that lack the economic comfort to permit such values. It is argued that the criticism offered by Quentin Kidd & Aie-Rie Lee (1997 [see abstract 9802884]) does not adequately distinguish between individual-level & aggregate value change or analyze how change occurs over time. The concept of political culture is introduced, & it is concluded that countries' cultural values & political traditions should be considered when elaborating the postmaterialism-environmentalism relationship. 15 References. E. Blackwell

Link between postmaterial values and environmentalism among mass publics; based on a mail survey conducted in Shizuoka prefecture in Japan and Spokane county, Washington, 1983-84; based on conference paper.

Based on a 1983 mail survey of environmentalists in Shizuoka prefecture, Japan and Spokane county, Washington. Degree to which Japanese environmentalists approximate the postindustrial image of the environmental movements in contemporary Western democracies.

This study assesses the relationship of personal values to support for water resource preservation in a sample of residents of the state of Washington. The Rokeach value inventory is employed to measure personal values. Two values are hypothesized to be related to support for preservation: "a world of beauty" and "a comfortable life." The relationship of values to support for preservation was hypothesized to be greater among owners of waterfront property and among those who employ water resources for greater numbers of uses. The results are consistent with the hypotheses. The value "a world of beauty" is related to support for preservation among most control conditions. "A comfortable life" is related to support for preservation among waterfront property owners and high-level users of water. Two values not hypothesized also are related to support for preservation: "responsible" among the property owners; and "national security" among the nonowners and the medium-level users of water. Overall, personal values explain substantially greater proportions of the variance in support for preservation among the owners than among the non-owners, and among the high- and medium-level water users than among the low-level water users. The study concludes that personal values are related to support for water resource preservation, and that this reflects consistency in public attitudes and clarity in environmental politics.