Meaning and contextualisation in risk assessment

This paper presents an analysis of the construction of risk as a social process. It provides a critique of Jasanoffʹs ‘two cultures’ model of the risk assessment community, arguing that corresponding rhetorics serve to obscure the hybrid nature of risk. It is argued that a new perspective, based on the contextualisation of expert scientific knowledge is needed, which transcends reductionist tendencies that view risk assessment as simply about either material artefacts or social constructions. Such approaches have the potential, it is suggested, to address not only the complexity but also the moral and political dilemmas associated with a wide range of risk management problems.