Risk assessment, risk values and the social science programme: why we do need risk perception research

Abstract

The paper poses the question of whether the findings from social science research on risk perception could (or indeed should) find direct application in the domains of risk regulation and management. The problem this poses, of balancing and integrating the best available scientific judgements and evidence on the one hand with aspects of public risk evaluations on the other, is one of the most difficult questions to be faced by democratic governments and their regulators today. The paper argues that the findings from risk perception research do hold implications for the ways in which risk analysis and regulation should be done. Current social science research on risk perceptions is discussed together with existing UK regulatory policy, which allows, to a certain extent, contextual issues to be factored into risk tolerability decision making. The paper concludes by presenting a set of arguments both for and against the use of risk perceptions in policy. Brief conclusions are drawn regarding the conditions under which public preferences and values might be optimally elicited.