Cultural approaches to risk

Question 1

Which approach does Douglas have towards studying risks?

Answer 1

She includes culture. In the muffled ears text, she focuses on how physical disasters are used systematically in the micro-politics on social institutions.

Question 2

How does an individual define a situation a.t. Douglas?

Answer 2

The definition is a result of selected elements from psykological and social processes in the individuals own and surrounding activities.
The selection is guided by culture specific intuitions

Question 3

A.t. Douglas what can we make political decisions about?

1992

Answer 3

Only things that we have a cultural knowledge about - e.g. fishermen can make decisions about weather conditions

Question 4

Which three types of organisations does Douglas identify?

Answer 4

Market, bureaucracies and voluntary groups

Question 5

What function does culture have a.t. Arnoldi?

2009

Answer 5

It works as an interpretive filter which influences how we understand the world.
The filter is not static but under constant negotiation

Question 6

What role does risks play in the public debate?

Answer 6

Douglas: It is a discussion of politics
Arnoldi: It is a discussion of the good society

Question 7

How does Arnoldi see risks?

Answer 7

As socially constructed

Question 8

What is the dread factor?

Answer 8

How much people fear something based on its complexity, uncontrollability etc
Often the highest dread factor with low prop high impact events

Question 9

How does we perceive risks?

Answer 9

Through a cultural schemata regulating what dangers seem possible. Douglas’ point is, that when the perceived reality brings this classificatory system out of balance risks emerge
Individual experiences e.g. due to socio-economic situations, does also play a role

Question 10

What is scientific arguments about?

Answer 10

Not only scientific uncertainty concerning risks, but also conflicting values - risks are framed differently, which creates conflicts

Question 11

What is the social amplification risk framework?

Answer 11

A model for studying how the complex processes through which risks are framed in the public e.g. through research, medias, lobbyists, public agencies etc

Question 12

What is the consequence of establishing cost/benefit as a way of determine level of risk acceptability?

Answer 12

It hides the political choice, and there is no neutral tool of measurement

Question 13

What is politics about?

Answer 13

Risk selection. We choose what to focus on, and even to calculate the prop of something, we have made a choice

Question 14

What happens if you say something is a risk?

Answer 14

Then you have to act on it, and if you dont and something happen, you can be held responsible

Question 15

How does Douglas define culture?

Answer 15

As the publically shared collection of principles and values used at any one time to justify behavior.
- when selecting risks the moral and political order is reinforced

Question 16

What does Rayner mean by grid and groups?

Answer 16

Grid = multiple hierarchies
Group = social networks
(think it is the general way i.e. the same as Douglas)

Question 17

What do we need to ask instead of how safe is safe enough a.t. Rayner?

Answer 17

How fair is safe enough?

Question 18

What is the conventional way of understanding the perceiver of risk communication?

Answer 18

As a passive recipient instead of an active agent

Question 19

What is the goal of conventional risk communication?

Answer 19

To transmit information in order to educate the perceiver

Question 20

How does cultural theory differ from conventional approaches to risk perception?

Answer 20

It assumes an active perceiver

Question 21

What is the ultimate cause of risk perception in cultural theory?

Answer 21

Institutional structures

Question 22

Which six major objections are there to cultural theory a.t. Rayner?

Answer 22

1. it leads to cultural relativism
2. it is no more than stereotyping
3. it cannot accommodate differences of scale
4. it is deterministic
5. ignores issues of power and self interests
6. is inherently conservative

Question 23

Can risk perception be irrational?

Answer 23

No, since risk perception is depending on culture it differs between groups - what is rational to one group might seem irrational to another

Question 24

What is a culture of risk?

Answer 24

It is influenced by a cultural set of values and the societal structure. Culture is an interpretive filter, which influences how we understand the world. However, Rayner states that human knowledge is constrained by other things than culture and socially constructed categories, e.g. natural forces that would exist in the absence of human agency

Question 25

Which goals does Douglas’ three types of organisations have?

Answer 25

1. Market: preservation of individual freedom. Responsibility in the wake of a disaster lies in the hands of a leader who lost power.
2. Bureaucracy: to secure the internal structure of authority. Responsibility is bound through collective action and thus when disaster strikes, it will be attributed to collective action dilemmas.
3. The voluntary group: survival of the group. According to Douglas only the latter is well adapted to pick up warnings related to low probability, high consequences disasters. Re- sponsibility is distributed among external and uncontrollable forces, as well as treacherous internal forces that try to undermine society.

Question 26

What does Douglas mean by the politics of fear?

Answer 26

Promoting fear of especially low probability, high consequence dangers increases the desire to unify or ‘stick together’, and are often used in the voluntary groups, which have most problems holding members together.
Risks (and fear) can therefore be created for political purposes