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The Social and Cultural Construction of Risk

Essays on Risk Selection and Perception

  • Book
  • © 1987

Overview

Editors:
  1. Branden B. Johnson

    1. Michigan Technological University, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Vincent T. Covello

    1. National Science Foundation, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Risk, Governance and Society (RISKGOSO, volume 3)

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
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  2. Reality, Perception, and the Social Construction of Risk

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Risk and Relativism in Science for Policy

      • Steve Rayner
      Pages 5-23

  3. Community Dynamics and the Social Construction of Risk

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 25-25
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    2. Risk Perception in Community Context: A Case Study

      • Janet M. Fitchen, Jenifer S. Heath, June Fessenden-Raden
      Pages 31-54

    3. Chemicals and Community at Love Canal

      • Martha R. Fowlkes, Patricia Y. Miller
      Pages 55-78

  4. Environmental Protest Movements, Citizen Groups, and the Social Construction of Risk

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 79-79
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    2. Challenging Official Risk Assessments via Protest Mobilization: The TMI Case

      • Edward J. Walsh
      Pages 85-101

    3. Protest Movements and the Construction of Risk

      • Luther P. Gerlach
      Pages 103-145

    4. The Environmentalist Movement and Grid/Group Analysis: A Modest Critique

      • Branden B. Johnson
      Pages 147-175

  5. Agenda-Setting, Group Conflict, and the Social Construction of Risk

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 177-177
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    2. Macro-Risks, Micro-Risks, and the Media: The EDB Case

      • Harold Issadore Sharlin
      Pages 183-197

    3. The Political Symbolism of Occupational Health Risks

      • Janet M. Bronstein
      Pages 199-226

  7. Experts and the Social Construction of Risk

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 295-295
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    2. Risk and the American Engineering Profession: The ASME Boiler Code and American Industrial Safety Standards

      • Eugene S. Ferguson
      Pages 301-316

    3. Environmental Risk in Historical Perspective

      • Joel A. Tarr, Charles Jacobson
      Pages 317-344
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Keywords

About this book

The Social and Cultural Construction of Risk: Issues, Methods, and Case Studies Vincent T. Covello and Branden B. Johnson Risks to health, safety, and the environment abound in the world and people cope as best they can. But before action can be taken to control, reduce, or eliminate these risks, decisions must be made about which risks are important and which risks can safely be ignored. The challenge for decision makers is that consensus on these matters is often lacking. Risks believed by some individuals and groups to be tolerable or accept­ able - such as the risks of nuclear power or industrial pollutants - are intolerable and unacceptable to others. This book addresses this issue by exploring how particular technological risks come to be selected for societal attention and action. Each section of the volume examines, from a different perspective, how individuals, groups, communities, and societies decide what is risky, how risky it is, and what should be done. The writing of this book was inspired by another book: Risk and Culture: An Essay on the Selection of Technoloqical and Environmental Dangers. Published in 1982 and written by two distinguished scholars - Mary Douglas, a British social anthropologist, and Aaron Wildavsky, an American political scientist - the book received wide critical attention and offered several provocative ideas on the nature of risk selection, perception, and acceptance.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Michigan Technological University, USA

    Branden B. Johnson

  • National Science Foundation, USA

    Vincent T. Covello

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Social and Cultural Construction of Risk

  • Book Subtitle: Essays on Risk Selection and Perception

  • Editors: Branden B. Johnson, Vincent T. Covello

  • Series Title: Risk, Governance and Society

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3395-8

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: D. Reidel Publishing Company 1987

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-8021-7Published: 22 February 2012

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-3395-8Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 2512-3076

  • Series E-ISSN: 2512-3084

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: 424

  • Topics: Environmental Management

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