Risk and Relativism in Science for Policy

Abstract

The publication of Douglas and Wildavsky’s Risk and Culture in 1982 called the attention of risk analysts to the argument that risks are defined and perceived differently by people in different cultural contexts. Hence, in complex societies, such as the contemporary United States, it is to be expected that there will be considerable disagreement between the members of various constituencies, as to what constitutes a technological risk, as well as about how such risks should be managed at various institutional levels.