Yeah, I think I have a few bones to pick with the Scientific American article as well. Hadn't come across the book -- will have to add it to the ever-lengthening list of Things to Read.

I was thinking of this more from the standpoint of Malinowski's Functionalism (an oldie but goodie); the concept of society as an interlocking series of systems that come into balance (including beliefs, ceremonies, customs, religion, ritual, taboos, etc.) Because individual psychology and beliefs depend on cultural context, I think it's a reasonable mechanism to explain why Velikovsky got such credence here in the US while being largely ignored in a lot of other places.

Many of us do tend to think that the world is like the US... and forget that it isn't. There's not as great an acceptance of Velikovsky and his ilk in other countries.

So I think that the pattern is there in the changing of American culture and that the situations and times have much to do with what gets celebrated and what gets ignored.