Rockridge Institute...Progressive Think Tank.........link

[ElsewheresDaughter]

re-thinking progressive politics
re-framing public debate
changing public policy

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/

The mission of the Rockridge Institute is to help achieve a just, democratic, environmentally sustainable, and humane society.

Rockridge works to:

Reframe the public debate to make a progressive moral vision more persuasive and resonant.
Tell the progressive story in moral terms and connect it to the values and ideals embodied in America’s history and traditions.
Build links with activists, policymakers, the media, academics, and other key groups to educate the public and inform the public debate.

Advance public policies that will bring us closer to a society that is just, democratic, humane and environmentally sustainable.

Nurture a unified voice among those working for progressive change by developing a common progressive story, a common moral language and shared policy directions.


As a tax-exempt non-profit research and educational institution, the Rockridge Institute does not endorse or oppose any candidate for elected office or any political party.

Over the last three decades, a well-organized and well-funded conservative movement has appropriated fundamental American values and language, from freedom to compassion to patriotism, and redefined them from a conservative perspective. By defining the language of public discourse, they have set the parameters of the political debate, even though a majority of Americans continue to reject much of the conservative worldview and its policy implications. The right has used the support of a dense network of think tanks, intellectuals, and policy analysts, to articulate its moral vision, disseminate it to the public, and translate it into public policies.

With no alternative language and overall vision available for public officials, policymakers, advocates, and journalists, it is difficult to promote or even discuss alternative policies. The debate is often over before it has ever really begun, and the progressive tendencies within the American people have no voice. We founded the Rockridge Institute to change this situation.

The founders of Rockridge are distinguished scholars and researchers from the University of California representing a variety of disciplines (including cognitive science, sociology, law, history, linguistics, women's studies, and public health). Our Senior Fellows have a track record of nationally recognized research, political engagement, and commitment to social justice.

We believe that through the combined efforts of the Senior Fellows and a talented staff, the Institute will be able to develop a vision, a strategy, and a moral language that can move American society in a progressive direction. This endeavor will involve research, communication, and outreach to reframe public debate to support immediate reforms and to build a durable movement for social change.

We are grateful to the Women Donors Network, Open Society Institute, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation, and other foundations and individuals that have made it possible for us to begin our work.

People
Select a photo to display more information.
Fellows

Fred Block

Professor, Sociology
University of California, Davis
Expertise: Economic Policy and History Troy Duster

Professor, Sociology, New York University
Chancellor's Professor, Sociology
University of California, Berkeley
Expertise: Science Policy and Race

Carole Joffe

Professor, Sociology
University of California, Davis
Expertise: The Politics of Women's Health Jerome Karabel

Professor, Sociology
University of California, Berkeley
Expertise: Education and Politics
George Lakoff

Professor, Linguistics
University of California, Berkeley
Expertise: The Framing of Social Issues Kristin Luker

Professor, Boalt School of Law
University of California, Berkeley
Expertise: Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Ruth Rosen

Professor Emerita, History
University of California, Davis
Expertise: Gender and Public Policy; Political Culture and Social Movements Lawrence Wallack

Dean, College of Urban and Public Affairs
Portland State University
and Emeritus Professor, Public Health
University of California, Berkeley
Expertise: Public Health, Mass Media, and Social Change



Staff

David Brodwin

Managing Director Dan Kurtz

Project Assistant,
Strategic Framing Project
Pamela Morgan

Director, Strategic Framing Project
Research Fellow
J. Zach Schiller

Project Coordinator,
Moral Economy Project

Rockridge's Advisory Board
Rockridge's Advisory Board includes Barbara Ehrenreich, Paul Hawken, Arlie Hochschild, Pedro Noguera, Katha Pollitt, Orville Schell, Paul Starr and Patricia J. Williams. Details

[Tinoire]

1. I'm liking that!

Linguistics professor George Lakoff at the Free Speech Movement Café. (BAP photos)

Framing the issues: UC Berkeley professor George Lakoff tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics


BERKELEY – With Republicans controlling the Senate, the House, and the White House and enjoying a large margin of victory for California Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, it's clear that the Democratic Party is in crisis. George Lakoff, a UC Berkeley professor of linguistics and cognitive science, thinks he knows why. Conservatives have spent decades defining their ideas, carefully choosing the language with which to present them, and building an infrastructure to communicate them, says Lakoff.

(snip)

In 2000 Lakoff and seven other faculty members from Berkeley and UC Davis joined together to found the Rockridge Institute, one of the few progressive think tanks in existence in the U.S. The institute offers its expertise and research on a nonpartisan basis to help progressives understand how best to get their messages across. The Richard & Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor in the College of Letters & Science, Lakoff is the author of "Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think," first published in 1997 and reissued in 2002, as well as several other books on how language affects our lives. He is taking a sabbatical this year to write three books — none about politics — and to work on several Rockridge Institute research projects.

(snip)

Why was the Rockridge Institute created, and how do you define its purpose?

The background for Rockridge is that conservatives, especially conservative think tanks, have framed virtually every issue from their perspective. They have put a huge amount of money into creating the language for their worldview and getting it out there. Progressives have done virtually nothing. Even the new Center for American Progress, the think tank that John Podesta (former chief of staff for the Clinton administration) is setting up, is not dedicated to this at all. I asked Podesta who was going to do the Center's framing. He got a blank look, thought for a second and then said, "You!" Which meant they haven't thought about it at all. And that's the problem. Liberals don't get it. They don't understand what it is they have to be doing.


(snip)

Right now the Democratic Party is into marketing. They pick a number of issues like prescription drugs and Social Security and ask which ones sell best across the spectrum, and they run on those issues. They have no moral perspective, no general values, no identity. People vote their identity, they don't just vote on the issues, and Democrats don't understand that. Look at Schwarzenegger, who says nothing about the issues. The Democrats ask, How could anyone vote for this guy? They did because he put forth an identity. Voters knew who he is.

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml

[ClassWarrior]

2. Rockridge is awesome... Lakoff is brilliant.

NGU.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. just started reading Lakoff's new book "don't think of an elephant!"......

"one of the most influential political thinkers of the progressive movement"...Howard Dean

Dean wrote the foreward for Lakoff's book and this is an essential guide for liberal/progressives...but several and give them out to everyone you know!

the first chapter "Framing 101"was an eye opener about the conservative agenda( and like must of you i already thought i knew plenty, my god was i still snoozing!) what they are truly about is very chilling :scared: and everyone needs to read this book!