Politics And Sociology Of Risk

National risk registers: Security scientism and the propagation of permanent insecurity

by Myriam Dunn Cavelty

Security Dialogue 43/1, 2012, pp. 80-97. co-authored with Jonas Hagmann

Aiming at the measurement, comparison and ranking of all kinds of public dangers, ranging from natural hazards to... more Aiming at the measurement, comparison and ranking of all kinds of public dangers, ranging from natural hazards to industrial risks and political perils, the preparation of national risk registers stands out as a novel and increasingly popular Western security practice. This article focuses on these registers and the analytical power politics in which they are complicit. We argue, first, that positing science as an objective determinant of security truth, national risk registers advance a modernist understanding of how knowledge of national dangers can be arrived at, discounting both sovereign and popular authorities; second, that by operationalizing a traditional risk-assessment formula, risk registers make possible seemingly apolitical decisions in security matters, taken on the basis of cost–benefit thinking; and, third, that risk registers’ focus on risk ‘themes’ tiptoes around the definition of referent objects, avoiding overt decisions about the beneficiaries of particular security decisions. Taking all these factors into account, we find that risk registers ‘depoliticize’ national security debates while transforming national insecurity into something permanent and inevitable.

Politische Soziologie technischer Prüfungen. Das Beispiel Straßenverkehrssicherheit <2012>

by Joerg Potthast

discussion paper

Draws on two conceptual streams (sociology of critique; sociology of science and technology) to develop a subpolitical... more Draws on two conceptual streams (sociology of critique; sociology of science and technology) to develop a subpolitical understand of "testing"; accounts for the history of car safety between late 1960s and 2006.

"L'incertitude comme menace"

by Claude-Olivier Doron

Draft to be published in Deprins, D. (ed.), Parier sur l'incertitude, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 2012

Through an analysis focusing on penal policies and how they deal with "uncertainty", this article wants to... more Through an analysis focusing on penal policies and how they deal with "uncertainty", this article wants to distinguish between different ways of perceiving and governing uncertainty, what we call different "rationalities" dealing with uncertainty.

Audience, Consequence, and Journal Selection in Toxic-exposure Epidemiology

by David Rier

Social Science & Medicine 59(7):1541-46; 2004.

Even preliminary toxic-exposure epidemiology papers can spark "media scares" and questionable reactions... more Even preliminary toxic-exposure epidemiology papers can spark "media scares" and questionable reactions amongst the public. Concerns for the social consequences of publication can lead epidemiologists--despite the advantages of visible publication--to choose a more obscure outlet for potentially sensitive studies. Interviews with 61 U.S. toxic-exposure epidemiologists indicate that investigators generally sought visible journals to transmit their work to the widest relevant audience. Yet up to 36%-46% of this sample sometimes have sought or would seek to keep their research from a public who, they feared, might misuse their results. Implications for the boundaries between science and society (including evidence of hidden scientific activism and ‘‘inert’’ public activism) are discussed, and six hypotheses for further research are proposed.
KEYWORDS: Epidemiology; publication; scientific responsibility; media; toxic exposure

Work Setting, Publication, and Scientific Responsibility

by David Rier

Science Communication 24:420-57; 2003

Semi-structured interviews (n=61) with toxic-exposure epidemiologists indicate that those in government settings (CDC,... more Semi-structured interviews (n=61) with toxic-exposure epidemiologists indicate that those in government settings (CDC, state health departments, and NIH) were more aware of and responsive to societal consequences of their publications than were those in universities. The NIH data were surprising, given NIH’s ivory tower image, but in part appear to stem from a broad trend towards greater accountability in science. Other worksite influences included: "institutional voice": epidemiologists from NIH or CDC were aware of speaking in the "voice of the government". There was also limited evidence suggesting the importance of local unit environment: investigators in the same research unit often reported being influenced by the tone set by the unit chief and colleagues. This preliminary study suggests that work-setting influences how epidemiologists define and execute their ethical responsibilities towards social consequences of their work, and generates questions and five testable hypotheses for future empirical research.
KEYWORDS: Toxic-exposure epidemiology; Work-setting; Scientific responsibility; Scientific publication; Media.

Publication Visibility of Sensitive Public Health Data: When Scientists Bury their Results

by David Rier

Science and Engineering Ethics 10:597-613; 2004

What happens when the scientific tradition of openness clashes with potential societal risks?  The work of... more What happens when the scientific tradition of openness clashes with potential societal risks?  The work of American toxic-exposure epidemiologists can attract media coverage and lead the public to change health practices, initiate lawsuits, or take other steps a study’s authors might consider unwarranted.  This paper, reporting data from 61 semi-structured interviews with U.S. toxic-exposure epidemiologists, examines whether such possibilities shaped epidemiologists’ selection of journals for potentially-sensitive papers.  Respondents manifested strong support for the norm of scientific openness, but a significant minority had or would/might, given the right circumstances, publish sensitive data in less-visible journals, so as to prevent unwanted media or public attention.  Often, even those advocating such limited “burial” upheld openness, claiming that less-visible publication allowed them to avoid totally withholding the data from publication.  However, 15% of the sample had or would, for the most sensitive types of data, withhold publication altogether.  Rather than respondents explaining their actions in terms of an expected split between “pure science” and “social advocacy” models, even those publishing in the more-visible journals often described their actions in terms of their “responsibility”.  Several practical limitations (particularly involving broader access to scientific literature via the Internet) of the strategy of burial are discussed, and some recommendations are offered for scientists, the media, and the public.

KEYWORDS:  Publication; scientist; responsibility; ethics; epidemiology

Gender, Lifecourse and Publication Decisions in Toxic-Exposure Epidemiology: 'Now!' vs. 'Wait a Minute!'

by David Rier

Social Studies of Science 33:269-300; 2003

Existing studies of gender and lifecourse in science have not focused on publication decisions, and even less so for... more Existing studies of gender and lifecourse in science have not focused on publication decisions, and even less so for publication of studies liable to attract media and public attention. This paper is based on semi-structured interviews with 61 U.S. toxic-exposure epidemiologists about their publication decisions. It examines gender differences in how scientists, as they move through the lifecourse, approach publication decisions for research bearing potential societal implications. Though preliminary, the data suggest that males are overall more comfortable than females with pursuing visible publication and handling media coverage. However, males and females may begin to crisscross over time. Specifically, males started out in publishing potentially controversial papers in visible journals likely to attract media and public attention, but grew more cautious with age, rank, and experience. Amongst females, the situation was less homogenous: while some (often, the most elite) reported patterns similar to males’, more reported following the reverse pattern as they moved through the lifecourse. These differences may stem in part from gender differences in self-confidence, risk-taking, and competitiveness. The wider significance and limitations of the data are discussed, and lines of further research (including nine testable hypotheses) are suggested.

KEYWORDS:
Gender; Lifecourse; Risk-taking; Epidemiology; Scientific Publication; Media

The domestic politics of international hierarchy: Risk management and the reconstitution of international society

by Shahar Hameiri

Co-authored with William Clapton, International Politics advance online publication, 23 December 2011; doi:10.1057/ip.2011.33

Recent work has identified new hierarchical relationships within international society. However, few scholars have... more Recent work has identified new hierarchical relationships within international society. However, few scholars have provided a satisfactory account of what informs their formation, reproduction or constitutional effects for international society. We argue that underpinning the emergence of a more hierarchical international society is a new social logic of risk, which constructs illiberal and/or fragile states as potentially dangerous sites of instability and disorder that pose particular security risks for Western states. We proceed to argue that such risk-based hierarchies are transformative of both inter-state and intra- state relations, by stripping equal political agency from ‘risky’ actors within and without the state. We demonstrate these claims by drawing on examples of international state building in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific.

History, space, and power: theoretical and methodological problems in the research on areas at (industrial) risk

by Pietro Saitta

Pietro Saitta, History, space, and power: theoretical and methodological problems in the research on areas at (industrial) risk, "Journal of Risk Research", First published May 13, 2011, DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2011.571785

The present article discusses methods and theoretical problems in the research on areas at industrial risk, using... more The present article discusses methods and theoretical problems in the research on areas at industrial risk, using examples and problems deriving from studies conducted in Sicily, as well as the review of a number of contemporary studies. The author argues that much of the contemporary research on areas at risk focuses on the ‘elites’ (environmental movements, boards of citizens, and the like) rather than on populations, and does not reflect on the general ambivalence of the inhabitants. This tendency is also related to the frequent lack of historical analyses on the milieus hosting industrial plants, and the rhetoric employed by authorities
and charismatic leaders in order to convince the populations to accept the industries into their territories. The author also reflects on the concept of space and notices that many studies focus mostly on the process of production of slums, neglecting the role of the industrial villages in the creation of perceptions and attitudes towards industry. In a similar manner, the state of local economies is often ignored in many analyses, so that considerations on the possibilities for alternative models of development are not provided. Yet, in spite of the fact that the current debate on risk is characterized by critical approaches, a number of studies appear to be implicitly conservative and cooperative with regard to state and capital and do not adequately reflect on the role of power in determining narratives and behaviors in areas at risk.

Les fondements d'une cosmopolitique du risqueinterprétation pragmatiste d'Ulrich Beck

by yasmine jouhari

Risk, Ritual and Health Responsibilisation: Japan’s ‘Safety Blanket’ of Surgical Face Mask Wearing

by Adam Burgess

This article begins to develop understanding of surgical mask wearing in Japan, now a routine practice against a range... more This article begins to develop understanding of surgical mask wearing in Japan, now a routine practice against a range of health threats. Their usage and associated meanings are explored through surveys conducted in Tokyo, with both mask wearers and non mask wearers. It contests commonly held cultural views of the practice as a fixed and distinctively Japanese collective courtesy to others. Historical analysis suggests an originally collective, targeted and science-based response to public health threat has dispersed into a generalised practice lacking clear end or purpose. Developed as part of the biomedical response to the Spanish flu of 1919, the practice resonated with folk assumption as a barrier between ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’. But mask wearing only became socially embedded as a general protective practice from the 1990s through a combination of commercial, corporate and political pressures that responsibilized individual health protection. Developments are usefully understood amidst the uncertainty created by Japan’s ‘second modernity’ and the fracturing of her post war order. Mask wearing is only one form of a wider culture of risk; a self protective ‘risk ritual’ rather than collective, selfless practice.

Against Breastfeeding (Sometimes)

by Joan Wolf

ALCOFORADO, Ihering et al, Riscos, Ameaças e Perigos nos Cerados Baianos - uma abordagem espacial

by Ihering Guedes Alcoforado

State Transformation, Territorial Politics and the Management of Transnational Risk

by Shahar Hameiri

Published in International Relations 25, no. 3 (2011), pp. 381-97, in special issue of the journal edited by Shahar Hameiri and Florian P. Kuehn, 'Risk, Risk Management and International Relations'.

The perceived emergence in recent years of potentially cataclysmic transnational risks has been a growing concern for... more The perceived emergence in recent years of potentially cataclysmic transnational risks has been a growing concern for policymakers and practitioners, as well as an area of considerable scholarly interest. Existing sociological approaches to the study of risk, which have become influential in a range of related social scientific fields, highlight important dimensions of this phenomenon, but are unable to adequately explain why these risk depictions have emerged at this historical juncture. Nor are they capable of providing a systematic explanation for variation in the adoption of risk depictions and related modes of governance in different functional areas and geographic regions. Drawing on the insights of political economy and critical political geography, it is argued that the current preponderance of transnational risk depictions and associated modes of governance should be understood in the context of processes of state transformation, linked to the transnationalisation of finance and production, which challenge the fit between state power and national territorial borders. From this perspective, risk and risk management are mechanisms in a contested process of rescaling, in which governance functions traditionally associated with the national state are shifted to regional or even global modes of governance. Understanding the dynamics of this territorial politics is important for learning about the current and evolving nature of political rule within and beyond the state.

Introduction: Risk, Risk Management and International Relations

by Shahar Hameiri

(with Florian P. Kuehn), International Relations 25, no. 3 (2011), pp. 275-79, in special issue of the journal edited by Shahar Hameiri and Florian P. Kuehn, 'Risk, Risk Management and International Relations'.

(2010) La sécurité ressuscite ce qui nous menace: métamorphoses de la catastrophe

by Tobias Girard

Published in 'Multitudes', 43 (4), 2010, pp. 127-133.

Based on an anthropological fieldwork realized from 2005 to 2007 in the industrial area of Marseille, this article... more Based on an anthropological fieldwork realized from 2005 to 2007 in the industrial area of Marseille, this article wants to show that industrial hazards and pollution just threaten their victims and not our society, which turns them into one of the driving forces of its self development. Thus security’s function is less to avoid industrial disasters, than ranking and giving them some social usefulness. Security builds a hierarchy of disasters to teach us what to fear, but also raises again that which threaten us. Would security achieve its goal by that mean ? For without hierarchy, disaster appears everywhere, suspended.

Keywords : Industrial area of Marseille, disasters, security, anthropology.

Real and Phantom Risks at the Petrol Station: the Curious Case of Mobile Phones, Fires and Body Static

by Adam Burgess

Published in Health, Risk and Society 2007

This case study examines the alleged hazard associated with mobile phone use at petrol stations and suggests that it... more This case study examines the alleged hazard associated with mobile phone use at petrol stations and suggests that it is a phantom risk. Understanding its persistence in the absence of evidence, a number of factors are outlined. A precautionary safety regime enforced by oil companies in the UK established
a restriction on mobile use on station forecourts that had the effect of confirming a danger. Warning signs in mobile phone handbooks had a similar effect and led to further restrictions at petrol stations. Among a number of problematic consequences, most ironic has been to distract from the real cause of the increased number of petrol stations fires at, particularly, American petrol stations. Investigations have identified the real cause; body static generated through vehicle re-entry while refuelling. This episode suggests the need for clarity about the precise reasons behind any restrictions on the use of a popular device that is already established as a potential, but invariably unconfirmed, health hazard.

Thinking Culturally about Risk: Comparing Responses to Mad Cow Disease

by Adam Burgess

review essay of Ferrari's book comparing BSE reactions in Japan, Europe and USA

Ferrari’s book is a welcome addition to the still limited literature on the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)... more Ferrari’s book is a welcome addition to the still limited literature on the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) experience which, unlike any other specific response to a disease, played an important role in reshaping modern governance and consolidating key assumptions about the world around us...

‘Nudging’ Healthy Lifestyles: The UK Experiments with the Behavioural Alternative to Regulation and the Market

by Adam Burgess

Substantially revised copy of earlier paper on 'There is an alternative....'

This article critically reflects upon the introduction of behavioural, ‘nudging’ approaches into UK policy making, the... more This article critically reflects upon the introduction of behavioural, ‘nudging’ approaches into UK policy making, the latest in a series of regulatory innovations. Initiatives have focused particularly upon correcting lifestyle risk behaviours, marking a significant continuity with previous ‘nannying’ policy. On the other hand, nudging represents a departure, even inversion of previous approaches that involved the overstating of risk, being based partly upon establishing a norm that bad behaviours are less, rather than more common than supposed. Despite substantive similarities, its attraction lies in the reaction against the former approach but must also be understood in the context of the economic crisis and a diminished sense of liberty and autonomy that makes intimate managerial intervention seem unproblematic. Problems are, in fact, substantial, as nudging is caught between the utility of unconscious disguised direction and the need to allow some transparency, thereby choice. Further, it assumes clear, fixed ‘better outcomes’ but encourages no development of capacity to manage problems, contradicting a wider policy intent to build a more responsible and active citizenry. More practically, nudging faces considerable barriers to becoming a successfully implemented programme, in the context of severe, Conservative-led austerity with which it is now associated.

Public Inquiries in the (Risk) Regulatory State

by Adam Burgess

earlier draft of paper to be published in British Politics 6(1) 2011

This article historically considers major public inquiries as an institution of the British regulatory state (Moran... more This article historically considers major public inquiries as an institution of the British regulatory state (Moran 2003), using recent data from parliamentary committees. Major inquiries draw upon judicial independence to restore political authority. Despite their formally ‘public’ character major inquiries were more confined to matters internal to the state prior to the 1980s, reflecting the insularity of ‘club rule’ and invisibility of the actual ‘public’. Inquiries began to assume their modern form in the 1960s, but it was in the context of the need for new institutions that arose with the collapse of ‘club rule’ that inquiries have taken on new significance. Increased resort to them reflects not simply more events necessitating such a response, but a greater need for a mechanism with both a public orientation and formal independence. The paper suggests that inquiries may have become overburdened instruments, particularly in relation to an expectation to effectively eliminate risk.