The Rockridge Institute was a small non-profit progressive research institute founded by George Lakoff and a group of his colleagues in 1997. Its purpose was to study how issues are framed, both conceptually and linguistically, in political discourse, and how progressives might frame them more accurately and effectively. It began receiving funding in 2002 and until 2008 produced a wide range of studies on the framing of public discourse. By 2008, Rockridge had completed most of the tasks it started out to do. To do more it would have needed far more funding. At about the same time, funding shifted to the Democratic nomination campaign of 2008, and so Rockridge closed its doors.

Below are George’s contributions to the Rockridge Institute’s website before it closed in 2008.

Take Back America

Metaphor, Morality, and Politics Or, Why Conservatives Have Left Liberals In the Dust

2003:
Framing The Issues – UC Berkeley Interview

2004:
How To Respond to Conservatives

2005:
Framing—It’s About Values and Ideas

A Cognitive Scientist Looks At Daubert

Framing Katrina

Raising Real Children

What’s In A Word? Plenty, If It’s “Marriage”

2006:
A Call For Progressive Unity

Beyond Beauty and Wonder

Building on the Progressive Victory

Bush Is Not Incompetent

The Crucial Issues Not Addressed in the Immigration Debate

Framing Versus Spin

Occupation: The Inconvenient Truth About Iraq
Simple Framing

War On Terror, Rest In Peace

When Cognitive Science Enters Politics

Whose Idea of Freedom Will Shape America’s Future?

2007:
Escalating Truth

Framing, Death, and Democracy

Iraq and the Betrayal of Trust

Progressive Taxation: Some Hidden Truths

2008:
Comparing Climate Proposals