Risk and blame : essays in cultural theory / Mary Douglas.

9781134811205 (electronic bk.)
1134811209 (electronic bk.)
9780203430866
0203430867
1282778455
9781282778450
9786612778452
6612778458
1134811195
9781134811199
9781134811151 (e-book ; Mobi)
1134811152
9781138126619 (hardback)
1138126616
0415062802
9780415062800
0415119995
9780415119993
0203430867

London ; New York : Routledge, 1992.

English

English.

1 online resource (xii, 323 pages) : illustrations

10.4324/9780203430866 doi

HM201 .D58 1992eb

(OCoLC)852159253

The idea of risk has recently risen to prominence in political debate and in matters of public policy. Cognitive psychology treats decision-making as a private personal act. But in real life dangers are presented in standardized forms which pre-code the individual's choices. This collection follows on from the programme for studying risk and blame that was implied in Purity and Danger and has been developed in subsequent publications. Its first six essays argue that any analysis of risk perception that ignores cultural and political bias is worthless. For the sake of a mistaken idea of objectivity, research on risk perception tries to avoid politics, but the idea of nature is inherently politicized. The study of risk needs a systematic framework of political and cultural comparison. The next five essays range over questions in cultural theory. A culture is viewed as a way of life which standardizes concepts and values. It is held steady by the institutions in which it is articulated. Questions of autonomy, credibility and gullibility, the social origins of wants, and the recognition of distinctive thought styles are at present only beginning to be treated systematically in a framework of cultural analysis. Now that risk is moving centre-stage as the dominant idiom of policy analysis, many other key topics, such as the notion of the self, will need to be radically revised. In Risk and Blame, Mary Douglas argues that the prominence of risk discourse will force upon the social sciences a programme of rethinking and consolidation which will include the anthropological approaches studied in these pages.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Print version record.

Print version: Douglas, Mary, 1921-2007. Risk and blame. London ; New York : Routledge, 1992

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