GEOG 1972 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Risk Perception
Document Summary
Figure 6. 1 voluntary/involuntary-common/catastrophic: a matrix for explaining what people think is risky and why. Each axis describes the characteristic of a hazard that tends to lead people, however erroneously, to assume it is or is not risky. Beyond risk: the political economy of hazards. Once we begin to consider the politics of hazards, however, the lens of risk, risk perception, and risk communication becomes somewhat inadequate. Risk is something that is sometimes imposed on others because the risk decision-maker is not the individual or group in control of decisions; Even where individuals make risky decisions on their own, their practical range of alternatives already has been severely diminished by political and economic context; and. The ability to make informed risk decisions is hampered by the political control, manipulation, and interpretation of crucial information. Each of these facts suggests that risk analysis is necessary but insufficient view of society-environment interactions.
