The ethics of socio-cultural risk research

Abstract

In socio-cultural risk research, an epistemological tension often follows if real hazards in the world are juxtaposed against the essentially socially constructed nature of all risk. In this editorial, we consider how this paradox is manifest at a practical level in a number of ethical dilemmas for the risk researcher. (1) In terms of strategies for seeking informed consent, and for addressing the power inequalities involved in interpretative and analytical work, researchers can find themselves pushing at the boundaries of standard understandings of ethical practices and ways of engaging informants in their studies. (2) Impact on participants is another key area of concern, since the subject matter on which data are collected in risk research may be a source of uncertainty, anxiety or unwanted self knowledge. (3) Risk researchers also face the possibility of institutional repercussions of raising risk issues with people who usually normalize the risks, thereby stimulating distrust in the institutions or organizations with formal responsibilities for risk management. There are no simple formulae to guide the researcher in dealing with such ethical issues and paradoxes. It is important, though, to recognize their specificity in risk studies, including the ambiguous status of questions about vulnerability since judgements about ‘who is vulnerable’ and ‘in what ways’ are themselves influenced by the situational framings and understandings of participants and researchers.

Keywords:

• Socio-cultural risk research
• ethics
• epistemology

Acknowledgements

The preparation of this article was supported by the ESRC Social Contexts and Responses to Risk (SCARR) Network under award RES-336-25-0001. Additional support to Nick Pidgeon came from a Leverhulme Trust award F/00 407/AG. We wish to thank Corinne Squire, Alan Irwin, Andy Alaszewski and one anonymous reviewer for constructive discussions regarding this material.