Department of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
Br J Sociol. 2013 Sep;64(3):383-404. doi: 10.1111/1468-4446.12024.
This paper considers a key aspect of the 'risk society' thesis: the belief that we should be able to manage risks and control the world around us. In particular it focuses on the interface between risk and risk events as socially constructed and the insights that 'critical situations' give us into 'the routine and mundane', the otherwise taken for granted assumptions underlying risk regulation. It does this with reference to the events precipitated by the April 2010 volcanic eruption in the Eyjafjallajökull area of Iceland. The resulting cloud of volcanic ash spread across Europe and much of Europe's airspace was closed to civil aviation for six days, with far reaching consequences including huge financial losses for airlines. The social processes of defining and reacting to risk and crisis both reveal and generate dilemmas and challenges in regulation. This paper examines the role of different interest groups in defining risk expectations and thereby redefining the ash crisis as a regulatory crisis.
本文考虑了“风险社会”论点的一个关键方面：我们应该能够管理风险并控制我们周围的世界的信念。特别是，它侧重于风险和风险事件之间的界面，因为它们是社会构建的，并且“关键情况”为我们提供了“日常和平凡”的见解，否则，风险监管的基础假设就被视为理所当然。这是通过参考 2010 年 4 月冰岛埃亚菲亚德拉冰盖地区火山爆发引发的事件来实现的。由此产生的火山灰云蔓延到欧洲和欧洲大部分领空，民用航空关闭了六天，造成了包括航空公司遭受巨大财务损失在内的深远影响。定义和应对风险和危机的社会过程既揭示了监管中的困境和挑战，也产生了这些困境和挑战。本文考察了不同利益集团在定义风险预期方面的作用，从而将火山灰危机重新定义为监管危机。
