Risk in the Modern Age : Social Theory, Science and Environmental Decision-Making

From Book News, Inc.
From a June-July 1997 workshop at Oxford, England, environmental sociologists look at the processes by which official experts and the general population come up with very different decisions about risk in such areas as nuclear power, genetic testing, food safety, and biodiversity. They explore the role of increasing individualization, emerging new social movements, and the declining public trust in public institutions. They hope to demonstrate the practical value of both the empirical American and theoretical European schools of the new discipline.Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR

Book Description
Form nuclear power to food safety, scientific experts and members of the general public differ sharply on the assessment of risk. Is there any way to bridge the divide between these competing epistemologies? During recent years social theorists have begun to turn their attention to this perplexing issue and to examine what risk controversies might be able to tell us about the current phase of modernity. This volume consists of contributions by leading environmental sociologists who explore how sociological insights can help to inform environmental decision-making.


Card catalog description
"Environmental decision-making in recent decades has become increasingly dependent on scientific expertise. Grounded in universal principles of knowledge, these expert evaluations often depart from the assessments of ordinary members of the public. Whether the issue is nuclear power, genetic testing, food safety, or biodiversity, conservation lay people are increasingly charging experts with being ignorant of local contextual considerations. Scientists, as well as many policy-makers, in turn contend that the public is hopelessly irrational in gauging environmental risks. Highlighting both theoretical and empirical perspectives, this volume brings together a distinguished group of environmental sociologists who critique and extend current thinking on what it means to live in a 'risk society'."--BOOK JACKET.

About the Author
Maurie J. Cohen is Research Fellow in Environmental Risk at the Oxford Center for the Environment, Ethics and Society, Mansfield College.



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From a June-July 1997 workshop at Oxford, England, environmental sociologists look at the processes by which official experts and the general population come up with very different decisions about risk in such areas as nuclear power, genetic testing, food safety, and biodiversity. They explore the role of increasing individualization, emerging new social movements, and the declining public trust in public institutions. They hope to demonstrate the practical value of both the empirical American and theoretical European schools of the new discipline. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


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