Skip to main content

A Critique of the Social Amplification of Risk Framework from the Power Perspective

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Power and Risk in Policymaking

Abstract

The social amplification of risk framework is an influential framework in the field of risk communication. It provides a useful lens to examine how a risk argument becomes amplified in a policy context, and it is therefore central to this book. This chapter provides an account of the social amplification of risk framework and explores key concepts within the literature that inform the critique of the framework. Specifically, this chapter teases out the role of power and expertise, and then communication and trust in shaping the social amplification (or attenuation) of public health riskĀ and safety.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adekola, J., Fischbacher-Smith, M., Fischbacher-Smith, D., & Adekola, O. (2017). Health risks from environmental degradation in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 35, 334ā€“354.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Adekola, J., Fischbacher-Smith, D., & Fischbacher-Smith, M. (2018). Light me up: Power and expertise in risk communication and policy-making in the e-cigarette health debates. Journal of Risk Research, 1ā€“15.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Bachrach, P., & Baratz, M. S. (1962). Two faces of power. American Political Science Review, 56, 947ā€“952.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Burns, W. J., Slovic, P., Kasperson, R. E., Kasperson, J. X., Renn, O., & Emani, S. (1993). Incorporating structural models into research on the social amplification of risk: Implications for theory construction and decision making. Risk Analysis, 13, 611ā€“623.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Cacioppo, J. T., & Petty, R. E. (1984). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. ACR North American Advances.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Casiday, R. E. (2005). Risk conceptualisations, trust and decision-making in the face of contradictory information: The case of MMR. Durham: Durham University.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Clegg, S. R. (1989). Frameworks of power. London: Sage.

    BookĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Collingridge, D., & Reeve, C. (1986). Science speaks to power: The role of experts in policy making. London: Pinter.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Earle, T., & Siegrist, M. (2008). Trust, confidence and cooperation model: A framework for understanding the relation between trust and risk perception. International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, 8, 17ā€“29.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Fellenor, J., Barnett, J., Potter, C., Urquhart, J., Mumford, J., & Quine, C. P. (2018). Ash dieback and other tree pests and pathogens: Dispersed risk events and the social amplification of risk framework. Journal of Risk Research, 1ā€“33.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Fischbacher-Smith, D. (2012). Getting pandas to breed: Paradigm blindness and the policy space for risk prevention, mitigation and management. Risk Management, 14, 177ā€“201.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Fischbacher-Smith, D., Irwin, A., & Fischbacher-Smith, M. (2010). Bringing light to the shadows and shadows to the light: Risk, risk management, and risk communication. In P. Bennet, K. Calman, S. Curtis, & D. Fischbacher-Smith (Eds.), Risk communication and public health (pp. 23ā€“38). Oxford University Press: Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199562848.003.02. ISBN 9780199562848.

    ChapterĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Flynn, J., Burns, W., Mertz, C. K., & Slovic, P. (1992). Trust as a determinant of opposition to a high-level radioactive waste repository: Analysis of a structural model. Risk analysis, 12(3), 417ā€“429.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality: Volume I. An Introduction. New York: Vintage.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972ā€“1977. Pantheon.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Freudenburg, W. R. (1993). Risk and recreancy: Weber, the division of labor, and the rationality of risk perceptions. Social Forces, 71, 909ā€“932.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Frewer, L. J. (2003). Trust, transparency, and social context: Implications for social amplification of risk. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Frewer, L. J., Scholderer, J., & Bredahl, L. (2003). Communicating about the risks and benefits of genetically modified foods: The mediating role of trust. Risk Analysis, 23, 1117ā€“1133.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Gabarro, J. J. (1978). The development of trust, influence, and expectations. In Interpersonal behavior: Communication and understanding in relationships (pp. 290ā€“303). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Gabler, N., & Katz, D. (2010). Contraband tobacco in Canada: Tax policies and black market incentives. Vancouver: Fraser Institute.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Giddens, A. (1979). Agency, structure. In Central problems in social theory (pp. 49ā€“95). London: Palgrave.

    ChapterĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Jasanoff, S. (1996). Beyond epistemology: Relativism and engagement in the politics of science. Social Studies of Science, 26, 393ā€“418.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1984). Choices, values, and frames. American Psychologist, 39, 341.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Kasperson, R. E. (1992). The social amplification of risk: Progress in developing an integrative framework in social theories of risk. Santa Barbara: Praeger.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Kasperson, R. E. (2005). Social contours of risk: Publics, risk communication and the social amplification of risk. London: Earthscan.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Kasperson, R. E. (2012). Social contours of risk: Volume I: Publics, risk communication and the social. London: Routledge.

    BookĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Kasperson, R. E., & Kasperson, J. X. (1996). The social amplification and attenuation of risk. In The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (pp. 95ā€“105). Thousand Oaks: Sage. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002716296545001010

  • Kasperson, R. E., Renn, O., Slovic, P., Brown, H. S., Emel, J., Goble, R., Kasperson, J. X., & Ratick, S. (1988). The social amplification of risk: A conceptual framework. Risk Analysis, 8, 177ā€“187.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Kasperson, R. E., Golding, D., & Tuler, S. (1992). Social distrust as a factor in siting hazardous facilities and communicating risks. Journal of Social Issues, 48, 161ā€“187.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • KjƦrnes, U., Harvey, M., & Warde, A. (2007). Trust in food: A comparative and institutional analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    BookĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Lasswell, H. D. (1948). The structure and function of communication in society. The Communication of Ideas, 37, 215ā€“228.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Lƶfstedt, R. E., & Horlick-Jones, T. (1999). Environmental regulation in the UK: Politics, institutional change and public trust. In Social trust and the management of risk (pp. 73ā€“88). London: Earthscan.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Lukes, S. (1974). Power: A radical view. London: Macmillan.

    BookĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Machlis, G. E., & Rosa, E. A. (1990). Desired risk: Broadening the social amplification of risk Framework. Risk Analysis, 10, 161ā€“168.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Majone, G. (2006). Agenda setting. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Masuda, J. R., & Garvin, T. (2006). Place, culture, and the social amplification of risk. Risk Analysis, 26, 437ā€“454.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. D. (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review, 20, 709ā€“734.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Metz, W. C. (1996). Historical application of a social amplification of risk model: Economic impacts of risk events at nuclear weapons facilities. Risk Analysis, 16, 185ā€“193.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Morganstern, A. (2016). The interaction of emotion and gender on the social amplification of risk: Why Twitter? Eugene: University of Oregon.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Pender, S. (2001). Managing incomplete knowledge: Why risk management is not sufficient. International Journal of Project Management, 19, 79ā€“87.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Petts, J., Horlick-Jones, T., Murdock, G., Hargreaves, D., McLachlan, S., & Lofstedt, R. (2001). Social amplification of risk: The media and the public. Sudbury: HSE Books.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Pidgeon, N. (1999). Risk communication and the social amplification of risk: Theory, evidence and policy implications. Risk Decision and Policy, 4, 145ā€“159.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Pidgeon, N., & Barnett, J. (2013). Chalara and the social amplification of risk. London: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Pidgeon, N., & Henwood, K. (2010). The social amplification of risk framework (SARF): Theory, critiques, and policy implications. In P. Bennett, K. Calman, S. Curtis, & D. Fischbacher-Smith (Eds.), Risk communication and public health (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Power, M. (2007). Organised uncertainty. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Renn, O. (2011). The social amplification/attenuation of risk framework: Application to climate change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 2, 154ā€“169.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Renn, O., & Levine, D. (1991). Credibility and trust in risk communication. In Communicating risks to the public (pp. 175ā€“217). Dordrecht: Springer.

    ChapterĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Renn, O., Burns, W. J., Kasperson, J. X., Kasperson, R. E., & Slovic, P. (1992). The social amplification of risk: Theoretical foundations and empirical applications. Journal of Social Issues, 48, 137ā€“160.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Shannon, C. E. (1961). Two-way communication channels. In Proceedings of 4th Berkeley symposium on mathematical statistics and probability, 1961, USA (pp. 611ā€“644). Berkeley: Statistical Laboratory of the University of California.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Shannon, C. E., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Shannon, C. E., & Weaver, W. (2015). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Siegrist, M., Earle, T. C., & Gutscher, H. (2003). Test of a trust and confidence model in the applied context of electromagnetic field (EMF) risks. Risk Analysis, 23, 705ā€“716.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Slovic, P. (1993). Perceived risk, trust, and democracy. Risk Analysis, 13, 675ā€“682.

    ArticleĀ  Google ScholarĀ 

  • Smith, D. (1988). Corporate power, risk assessment and the control of major hazards: A study of Canvey Island and Ellesmere Port. Manchester: University of Manchester.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Smith, D. (1990). Corporate power, risk assessment and the control of major hazards: A study of Canvey Island and Ellesmere Port. PhD dissertation, University of Manchester.

    Google ScholarĀ 

  • Steven, L. (1974). Power: A radical view. London/New York: Macmillan.

    Google ScholarĀ 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Josephine Adekola .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

Ā© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Adekola, J. (2020). A Critique of the Social Amplification of Risk Framework from the Power Perspective. In: Power and Risk in Policymaking. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19314-0_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics