Social amplification and social representations of risk

Abstract

Chapter preview This chapter introduces a systematic way to conceptualise how risk events, through social and psychological processes, can be amplified, or indeed dampened, and as a result can lead to a ripple of different consequences at various levels (for instance, economic, legal, cultural). This conceptual approach is known as the Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF). The basic tenets of SARF are described and the ways in which it has been used are summarised. Some of the recent elaborations of the approach are presented. The layering method is outlined as a tool for exploring amplification processes and ripple effects. The significance of hazard sequences, templates and negotiations with amplification and ripple processes are outlined. The chapter then proceeds to consider two theories that serve to explain some of the processes that underpin the amplification or attenuation of risk: Social Representations Theory and Identity Process Theory. Both theories are presented briefly and their usefulness in predicting risk perceptions and judgements and the ripple effects of risk events is assessed. The Social Amplification of Risk Framework The Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF) describes both the social and individual factors that act to amplify or attenuate perceptions of risk and then generate secondary effects such as regulatory changes, economic losses or stigmatisation of technologies.