Technical risk analysis accomplishes the activities of risk identification, risk assessment and risk management by the use of scientific rationality. As an ac tivity of the political state, it also plays a role in managing the state's legitimacy problems. Critical theory can locate these two aspects of technical risk analysis in the context of a social theory as well as provide normative guidance for cor recting the deficiencies inherently associated with them. In particular, Haber mas's concepts of communicative rationality and the ideal speech situation have immediate ramifications of risk communication.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adorno, T.W., 1973. Negative Dialectics. Seabury, New York.
2.
Ames, B.N.Magaw, R. and Gold, L.S., 1987. Ranking possible carcinogenic hazards. Science, 236: 271-280.
3.
Beck, U., 1989. On the way to the industrial risk society? Outline of an argument. Thesis Eleven, 23: 86-103.
4.
Bonin, J.J. and Stevenson, D.E., 1989. Risk Assessment in Setting National Priorities. Plenum, New York.
5.
Brown, H.S. and Goble, R., 1990. The role of scientists in risk assessment. Risk: Issues in Safety andHealth, 1: 283-311.
6.
Clarke, L., 1989. Acceptable Risk? Making Choices in a Toxic Environment . University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
7.
Covello, V.T., Menkes, J. and Mumpower, J., 1986. Risk Evaluation and Management. Plenum , New York.
8.
Deisler, P.F., 1988. The risk management-risk assessment interface. Environmental Science and Technology, 22: 15-19.
9.
Dietz, T. and Rycroft, R.W., 1987. The Risk Professionals. Russell Sage Foundation, New York.
10.
Dietz, T., Stem, P.C. and Rycroft, R.W., 1989. Definitions of conflict and the legitimation of resources: the case of environmental risk. Sociological Forum, 4: 47-70.
11.
Fiorino, D., 1990. Citizen participation and environmental risk: a survey of institutional mechanisms. Science, Technology, and Human Values, 15: 226-243.
12.
Fischhoff, B., Slovic, P., Lichtenstein, S., Read, S. and Combs, B., 1978. How safe is safe enough? A psychometric study of attitudes toward technological risks and benefits. Policy Sciences, 9: 127-152.
13.
Fischhoff, B., Lichtenstein, S., Slovic, P., Derby, S.L. and Keeney, R.L., 1981. Acceptable Risk. Cambridge University Press, New York.
14.
Fisher, A., Pavlova, M. and Covello, V.T., eds., 1991. Evaluation and Effective Risk Communications Workshop Proceedings. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.
15.
Forester, J., ed., 1985. Critical Theory and Public Life. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
16.
Freudenberg, W.R., 1989. Organizational amplification of risk. Unpublished paper presented at the Annual Meeting of Society for Risk Analysis , San Francisco, CA.
17.
Habermas, J., 1962. Strukturwandel der Offentlichkeit. Luchterhand, Neuwied.
18.
Habermas, J., 1970. Towards a Rational Society. Beacon , Boston, MA.
19.
Habermas, J., 1971. Knowledge and Human Interests. Beacon , Boston, MA.
20.
Habermas, J., 1973. What does a crisis mean today? Legitimation problems in late capitalism. Social Research, 40: 643-667.
Habermas, J., 1983. Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. 1, Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Translated by T. McCarthy, Beacon, Boston, MA.
23.
Habermas, J., 1987. Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. 2, Lifeworld and System: a Critique of Functionalist Reason. Translated by T. McCarthy, Beacon, Boston, MA.
24.
Habermas, J. and Luhmann, N., 1971. Theorie der Gesellschaft oder Sozialtechnologie? Suhrkamp, Frankfurt.
25.
Hadden, S.G., 1991. Public perception of hazardous waste. Risk Analysis, 11: 47-57.
26.
Hance, B.J., Chess, C. and Sandman, P.M., 1988. Improving Dialogue with Communities: a Risk Communication Manual for GovernmentRutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
27.
Heimer, C.A., 1988. Social structure, psychology, and the estimation of risk . Annual Review of Sociology, 14: 491-519.
28.
Held, D., 1980. Introduction to Critical Theory. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
29.
Hohenemser, C., Kasperson, R.E. and Kates, R.W., 1977. The distrust of nuclear power. Science , 196:25-34.
30.
Hohenemser, C., Kasperson, R.E. and Kates, R.W., 1984. Nuclear power. In: R.W. Kates, J.X. Kasperson and C. Hohenemser, eds. Perilous Progress. Westview, Boulder, CO: 219-250.
31.
Horkheimer, M., 1972. Critical Theory. Herder & Herder , New York.
32.
Horkheimer, M., 1974. Eclipse of Reason. Seabury, New York.
33.
Horkheimer, M. and Adorno, T.W., 1946. Dialectic of Enlightenment. Reprinted 1988, Continuum, New York.
34.
Jay, M., 1973. The Dialectical Imagination: a History of the Frankfurt School and the Institute of Social Research, 1923-1950. Little, Brown, Boston, MA.
35.
Johnson, B.B. and Covello, V.T., 1987. The Social and Cultural Construction of Risk. Reidel, Dordrecht.
36.
Keeney, R.L. and Von Winterfeldt, D., 1986. Improving risk communication . Risk Analysis, 6: 417-424.
37.
Kemp, R., 1985. Planning, public hearings, and the politics of discourse . In: J. Forester, ed. Critical Theory and Public Life. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA: 177-201.
38.
Levine, A.G., 1982. Love Canal: Science, Politics, and People. Lexington Books, Lexington, MA.
39.
Lewis, H.W., Budnitz, R.J., Kouts, H.J.C., Loewenstein, W.B., Rowe, W.D., Von Hipple, F. and Zachariansen, F. , 1978. Risk Assessment Review Group Report to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NUREG/CR-0400. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC.
40.
Lynn, F.M., 1987. Citizen involvement in hazardous waste sites: two North Carolina success stories. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 7: 347-361.
41.
Marcuse, H., 1964. One Dimensional Man. Beacon, Boston, MA.
42.
Mazur, A., 1981. The Dynamics of Technical Controversy. Communication Press, Washington, DC.
43.
McCarthy, T., 1975. Translator's introduction. In: J. Habermas.Legitimation Crisis. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA: vii-xxiv.
44.
National Research Council, 1983. Risk Assessment in the Federal Government: Managing the Process. National Academy of Sciences Press, Washington, DC.
45.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 1975. Reactor Safety Study: an Assessment of Accident Risks in US Commercial Nuclear Power Plants. WASH-1400, NUREG-75/014, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC.
46.
O'Connor, J., 1973. The Fiscal Crisis of the State. St Martin's, New York.
47.
Offe, C., 1975. The theory of the capitalist state and the problem of policy formation. In: A. Lindberg and C. Offe, eds. Stress and Contradiction in Modem Capitalism. Heath, New York.
Otway, H. and Thomas, K., 1982. Reflections on risk perception and policy. Risk Analysis, 2: 69-82.
50.
Perrow, C., 1984. Normal Accidents. Basic Books, New York.
51.
Plough, A. and Krimsky, S., 1987. The emergence of risk communication studies: social and political context. Science, Technology, and Human Values, 12: 4-10.
52.
Rayner, S. and Cantor, R., 1987. How fair is safe enough?Risk Analysis , 7: 3-13.
53.
Regan, M.J. and Desvousges, W.H. , 1990. Communicating Environmental Risks: a Guide to Practical Evaluations. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.
54.
Renn, O. and Webler, T., 1991. Public participation in hazard management: the use of citizen panels in the US. Risk: Issues in Safety andHeath , 2: 197-226.
55.
Rip, A., 1985. Experts in public arenas. In: H. Otway and M. Peltu, eds. Regulating Industrial Risks: Science, Hazards, and Public Protection. Butterworths, London: 94-110.
56.
Russell, M. and Gruber, M., 1987. Risk assessment in environmental policy-making. Science, 236:286-290.
57.
Schnaiberg, A., 1986. The role of experts and mediators in channeling of distributional conflicts. In: A. Schnaiberg, N. Watts and K. Zimmermann , eds. Distributional Conflicts in Environmental-Resource Policy. Gower, Aldershot: 348-362.
58.
Sholly, S. and Thompson, G., 1986. The Source Term Debate: a Report by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Union of Concerned Scientists, Washington, DC.
59.
Shrivastava, P., 1987. A cultural analysis of conflicts in industrial disaster . International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters , 5: 243-264.
60.
Slovic, P., 1987. Perception of risk. Science, 236: 280-285.
61.
Starr, C., 1969. Social benefit versus technological risk. Science, 165: 1232-1238.
62.
Van Ryzin, J., 1980. Quantitative risk assessment. Journal of Occupational Medicine, 22: 321-326.
63.
Von Winterfeldt, D. and Edwards, W., 1984. Patterns of conflict about risky technologies. Risk Analysis, 4: 55-68.
64.
Whipple, C. and Covello, V.T., eds., 1983. Risk Analysis in the Private Sector. Plenum, New York.
65.
Wilson, R., 1979. Analyzing the daily risks of life. Technology Review, 81: 40-46.
66.
Wilson, R. and Crouch, E.A.C., 1987. Risk assessment and comparisons. Science , 236: 267-270.
