History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
ESA Conference: Ageing Societies, New Sociology
September 23-26, 2003 in Murcia, Spain
Two streams of sessions of the
Research Network 18: Sociology of Science and Technology (SSTNET)
Convenors:
Raymund Werle: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Köln, Germany (werle@mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de)
Marja Häyrinen Alestalo: Dept. of Sociology, University of Helsinki, Finland (marja.alestalo@helsinki.fi)
Luísa Oliveira: DINÂMIA/ISCTE, Lisboa, Portugal (luisa.oliveira@iscte.pt)
Maarten Mentzel: 38 Johan de Wittstraat, 2334 AR Leiden, The Netherlands (m.a.mentzel@planet.nl)
First Stream: Governing Science and Technology in the Era of Globalization
Tuesday Sept. 23
14.00 - 16.00 session 1 (Campus de La Merced)
Chair: Raymund Werle
1.2. Author(s): Jerónimo, Helena
Institution: ISEG - Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (Institute of Economics and Business Administration of the Technical University of Lisbon)
Professional Category: Lecturer (at the moment, PhD Student, University of Cambridge - UK)
City: Lisboa
Country: Portugal
E-mail: jeronimo@iseg.utl.pt
RISK AND UNCERTAINTY IN THE TECHNOSCIENTIFIC AGE
Recently, the concept of "risk" has become a key dimension in social theory and in the analysis of contemporary societies. Such emphasis is understandable in light of the enormous impacts of modern science and technology that, among important achievements, have shown the collapse of its project of total mastery over contingencies. Despite increased efforts towards securing and control contingencies that allows the suggestion of a greater safety now than ever science has unleashed more risks and especially uncertainties.
The aim of this paper is twofold. The first is to revisit the concept of "uncertainty" in social theory, implicitly expressed by the ideas of ontological indeterminacy, chance, contingency and unforeseeable consequences. In this point, it will discuss the assumptions of "risk" and "uncertainty", knowing that their conceptual differences have been overlooked due to the popularisation of the "risk society" and to the absorption of the language of uncertainty into the generic category of risk. The second purpose is to illustrate this debate with some data of the management of hazardous industrial waste in Portugal, one of the most significant political conflicts over the last decade, which is still ongoing. It will present the notions of "risk" and "uncertainty" underlying the scientific risk-benefit reports and the criteria being used to consider certain practices as sufficiently safe for the public. The idea of ontological uncertainty challenges the probabilistic methodology in the risk assessment and also suggests the need for engaging in ethical considerations before taking any decision of public policy.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006