School of Social and Political Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemRisk taking(Routledge - Taylor & Francis, 2016-01-31)This is the first attempt to draw together and define risk studies, through a definitive collection written by the leading scholars in the field.
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ItemNo Preview Available"In-between' and other reasonable ways to deal with risk and uncertainty: A review article(Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2016-10-01)How people deal with risk and uncertainty has fuelled public and academic debate in recent decades. Researchers have shown that common distinctions between rational and 'irrational' strategies underestimate the complexity of how people approach an uncertain future. I suggested in 2008 that strategies in-between do not follow standards of instrumental rationality nor they are 'irrational' but follow their own logic which works well under particular circumstances. Strategies such as trust, intuition and emotion are an important part of the mix when people deal with risk and uncertainty. In this article, I develop my original argument. It explores in-between strategies to deal with possible undesired outcomes of decisions. I examine 'non-rational strategies' and in particular the notions of active, passive and reflexive hope. Furthermore, I argue that my original typology should be seen as a triangular of reasonable strategies which work well under specific circumstances. Finally, I highlight a number of different ways in which these strategies combine.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableRisk and theory in Germany(Routledge, 2016-03-31)In Germany debates about risk developed along different lines from those in many other countries. In the US, Ron Johnston noted as early as 1980 that working on risk issues was ‘big business’ (1980: 105) and, in the same year, the Society of Risk Analysis was founded which produces the well-known international journal, Risk Analysis. At this time, in Germany, similar research was less well developed; however, technical-oriented risk research, in particular in chemistry and atomic technology, was being carried out. In addition, beginning in the 1970s in domains such as cancer and pregnancy, there was a significant increase in Risk Factor Medicine (Abholz et al., 1982) although again this was less developed than in the Anglosphere. In the field of psychological research, work was carried out on risk anxieties (Schicha, 1982), risk personalities (Klebelsberg, 1969) and children at risk (Steinhausen et al., 1984) but there was no significant contribution to the domains of risk perception and risk communication, which remained underdeveloped in the 1970s and 80s.
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ItemLiving in the Anthropocene: towards a risk-taking society(Australian National University, 2016-10-01)Social debates about nature are changing. Understandings of nature as largely independent of human activity and available for exploitation have given way to concerns about its protection, and have further shifted towards strategies focused on actively managing and producing nature. This article aims to make sense of this shift using a risk framework. Originating from the modern notion of risk that amalgamates risk minimisation and risk-taking, it suggests that environmental decision-making is shifting from an emphasis on the prevention and minimisation of risk towards a focus on risk management and risk-taking. The article revisits debates about the Anthropocene as well as trends in environmental sociology and developments in economics to illustrate how the notion of ‘nature’ has changed. It reflects a growing trend of debates considering humans’ responsibility for their natural environment, as well as the need to shape it actively and see it as a problem of market design. In conclusion, it argues that these changes characterise the sprawl of social risk-taking into the natural environment. Still considered complex, dynamic and difficult to understand, the notion of ‘nature’ as increasingly shaped and produced by humanity is pushing humanity into an age of environmental risk-taking or a risk-taking society.
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ItemChanging discourses of risk and health risk: A corpus analysis of the usage of risk language in the New York times(Routledge - Taylor & Francis, 2016-01-01)
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ItemRoutledge Handbook of Risk Studies(Routledge, 2016-03-31)It is over 40 years since we began to reflect upon risk in a more social than technological and economic fashion, firstly making sense of the gap between expert and public assessment of risks, such as to our health and environment. With fixed certainties of the past eroded and the technological leaps of 'big data', ours is truly an age of risk, uncertainty and probability - from Google's algorithms to the daily management of personal lifestyle risks. Academic reflection and research has kept pace with these dizzying developments but remains an intellectually fragmented field, shaped by professional imperatives and disciplinary boundaries, from risk analysis to regulation and social research. This is the first attempt to draw together and define risk studies, through a definitive collection written by the leading scholars in the field. It will be an indispensable resource for the many scholars, students and professionals engaging with risk but lacking a resource to draw it all together.
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ItemNew life courses and social risks. Implications for social policy in East Asia(Routledge, 2015-10-30)Social policy in modern industrialised societies is increasingly challenged by new social risks. These include insecure employment resulting from ever more volatile labour markets, new family and gender relationships resulting from the growing participation of women in the labour market, and the many problems resulting from very much longer human life expectancy. Whereas once social policy had to be in step with a standardised, relatively stable and predictable life course, it now has to cope with non-standardised individual preferences, life courses and families, and the consequent increased risks and uncertainties. This book examines these new life courses and their impact on social policy across a range of East Asian societies. It shows how governments and social welfare institutions have been slow to respond to the new challenges. In response, we propose a life-course sensitised policy as an approach to manage these risks. Overall, the book provides many new insights which will assist advance social policy in East Asia.
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ItemDecision Taking in Times of Uncertainty Towards an efficient strategy to manage risk and uncertainty in climate change adaptation(Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research (VCCCAR), 2014)