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Missing the Wood for the Trees?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Adam Burgess
Adam Burgess*
Affiliation:
Social Risk Research, University of Kent
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Extract

There is little debate, particularly clear, ‘no bullshit’ debate within the risk and regulation community, much as there is a lack elsewhere within academia. Without it, much goes unclarifed and arguments aren't tested and pushed to their limits, which is generally where they need to go. On these grounds alone I would welcome the different approaches to European/American precaution set out by Vogel and Wiener. But there are more positive things to say about these competing representations, irrespective of which one prefers. This is a discussion rich in empirical detail but that goes beyond individual issues towards systemic patterns, relating the data to wider themes and an overall framework. What's more, it concerns a matter of real contemporary significance and interest that citizens generally – at least those of America and Europe – should know about, and even have a view upon. And it's genuinely interesting – irrespective of any engagement with the academic study of risk and regulation.

Type
Book Reviews
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , June 2013 , pp. 287 - 291
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

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References

1 Cafaggi, Fabrizio, Book Review of The Reality of Precaution: Comparing Risk Regulation in the United States and Europe, 2(3) European Journal of Risk Regulation(2012), pp. 265–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Moran, Michael, The British Regulatory State: High Modernism and Hyper-Innovation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Burgess, Adam, “Flattering Consumption: The Growth of Consumer Rights and Product Safety Concerns in Europe”, 1(1) Journal of Consumer Culture (2001), pp. 93–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Burgess, Adam, Cellular Phones, Public Fears and a Culture of Precaution (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004).Google Scholar

5 Douglas, Mary and Wildavsky, Aaron, Risk and Culture(Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1982).Google Scholar

6 Douglas and Wildlavsky, Risk and Culture, supra, note 5.