Paul Slovic
Trust, Emotion, Sex, Politics, and Science: Surveying the Risk?Assessment Battlefield
Decision Research
risk management become increasingly politicized contentious polarized views controversy conflict become pervasive research begun provide new perspective problem demonstrating complexity concept risk inadequacies traditionalview risk assessment purely scientific enterprise paper argues danger real risk socially constructed risk assessment inherently subjective represents blending science judgmentwith important psychological social cultural political factors addition social democratic institutions remarkable many respects breed distrust risk arena whoever controls definition risk controls rational solution problem hand ifrisk defined one way one option rise top costeffective safest best defined another way perhaps incorporating qualitative characteristics contextual factors one likely get different ordering action solutions definingrisk thus exercise power scientific literacy public education important central risk controversies public irrational judgments risk influenced emotion affect way simple sophisticated holds true scientists public views also influenced worldviews ideologies values scientists views particularly working limits expertise limitations risk science importance difficulty maintaining trust complex sociopolitical nature risk point need new approachone focuses upon introducing public participation risk assessment risk decision making order make decision process democratic improve relevance quality technical analysis increasethe legitimacy public acceptance resulting decisions