1. Environmental risks and environmental justice, or how titanic risks are not so titanic after all.
- Author
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Alario MV and Freudenburg WR
- Subjects
- Conservation of Energy Resources economics, Conservation of Energy Resources history, Conservation of Energy Resources legislation & jurisprudence, Conservation of Natural Resources economics, Conservation of Natural Resources history, Conservation of Natural Resources legislation & jurisprudence, Environmental Health economics, Environmental Health education, Environmental Health history, Environmental Health legislation & jurisprudence, Environmental Monitoring economics, Environmental Monitoring history, Environmental Monitoring legislation & jurisprudence, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century, Risk Management economics, Risk Management history, Risk Management legislation & jurisprudence, Risk-Taking, Social Change history, Social Conditions economics, Social Conditions history, Social Conditions legislation & jurisprudence, Social Sciences education, Social Sciences history, Climate, Environment, Public Health economics, Public Health education, Public Health history, Public Health legislation & jurisprudence, Risk Assessment economics, Risk Assessment history, Risk Assessment legislation & jurisprudence, Socioeconomic Factors, Technology economics, Technology education, Technology history, Technology legislation & jurisprudence
- Abstract
Some of the best-known social scientific theories of risks are those that have been elaborated by Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck. Although their arguments differ greatly, they agree in seeing the technologically induced risks of today's "Risk Society" as global - so pervasive that they transcend all socioeconomic as well as geopolitical and national boundaries. Most empirical work, however, provides greater support for a theoretical tradition exemplified by Short and Erikson. In this paper, we argue that many of the technological mega-risks described by Giddens and Beck as "transcending" social boundaries are better described as "Titanic risks," referring not so much to their colossal impact as to the fact that - as was the case for the majority of the victims on the Titanic - actual risks are related to victims' socioeconomic as well as sociogeographic locations. Previous research has shown this to be the case with high-risk technologies, such as nuclear energy and weaponry, and also with localized ones, such as toxic waste disposal. This article illustrates that the same is true even for the most genuinely "global" risks of all, namely those associated with global climate disruption.
- Published
- 2010
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