William Lei

Biographic Data

ID293607
NAMEWilliam Lei
GIVEN NAMESWilliam
FAMILY NAMELei
SIGNATURELEI W
AFFILIATIONSQueen's University
ORCID0000-0002-5192-1788
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS39
TOTAL CITATIONS127
AUTHOR COUNT39
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1963
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX5

  • Excerpt From: Hera, or Empathy

    William Lei, William LeissARTICLEFast Capitalism2026

    Listen to me carefully now.Above all, father, my sisters and I are the authentic products of your own great intelligence and skill.And as such we're also the authentic products of the entire trajectory of modern science, from its beginnings in the seventeenth century to the latest discoveries in neurogenetics, which you used to create us.You brought us into being.True, we're not quite what you expected.We do not, for indeed we cannot, express the…

  • Modern Science, Enlightenment, and the Domination of Nature: No Exit

    William Lei, William LeissARTICLEFast Capitalism2026

    "The disease of reason is that reason was born from man’s urge to dominate nature." —Max Horkheimer, Eclipse of Reason (1947) In the fuller passage from which this extract is taken, Horkheimer locates the origins of the ‘collective madness’ of modern times in ‘in primitive objectification, in the first man’s calculating contemplation of the world as prey’ (176). Perhaps all one can say in response is, if this diagnosis is correct, there is certai…

  • Philipp Blom, ‘Subjugate the Earth: The Beginning and End of Human Domination of Nature’

    Open AccessWilliam LeiARTICLEJournal for the Study of Religion…2025

    Philipp Blom, Subjugate the Earth: The Beginning and End of Human Domination of Nature (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2025) xxv + 303 pp., $30.00 (pbk), ISBN: 978-1-509-56132-2. (Translation of the German original, Munich 2022)

  • The Domination of Nature: New Edition

    Open AccessWilliam Lei, William LeissBOOKThe Domination of Nature2023

    Originally published in 1972, The Domination of Nature was part of the first wave of widespread interest in environmental issues. Leiss argues that our current predicament arises from deeply rooted attitudes toward nature. A new preface explores the concept of eco-dominion and the moral obligations of human citizens of the twenty-first century

  • A global decarbonisation bond

    Open AccessWilliam LeiARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2019

    The 2018 IPCC Special Report, Global Warming of 1.5 °C , calls attention to the inadequacy of ‘the current nationally stated mitigation ambitions as submitted under the Paris Agreement’ to control global warming within acceptable parameters. A strategy of decarbonisation is urgently required in this context, and where that strategy is most needed is in developing countries, which are, however, constrained by a shortage of capital to carry it out.…

  • ‘Social Communication in Advertising’

    William Lei, William Leiss et al.CHAPTERMedia Studies2009

  • A Tale of Two Food Risks: BSE and Farmed Salmon in Canada

    William Lei, William Leiss et al.ARTICLEJournal of Risk Research2006Cited by: 2References: 3

    Today the public has access to enhanced resources for interpreting the technical basis of risk communication messages, emanating from government and industry, dealing with food risk issues. These resources include extensive media reporting on key scientific studies as well as Internet sites, hosted by many different players, where the scientific and statistical basis for risk assessments are presented, debated, and criticized. In this information…

  • Mad Cows and Mother’s Milk: The Perils of Poor Risk Communication

    William Lei, William Leiss et al.BOOKMad Cows and Mother's Milk,…2004

  • Kritische Theorie der Technik und der Natur

    Gerhard Gamm, Rudi Schmiede et al.BOOKKritische Theorie der Technik und…2003

    Die Kritische Theorie gilt als Theorie der Frankfurter Schule. So wie sie von Max Horkheimer in seinem klassischen Aufsatz über Kritische und traditionelle Theorie in den dreißiger Jahren ausgearbeitet wurde, ist sie allerdings eine kritische Theorie der Gesellschaft, nicht der Natur und der Technik. Der Grund dafür ist darin zu suchen, daß die Kritische Theorie gerade in Absetzung von der positivistisch verstandenen Naturwissenschaft konzipiert …

  • The Social Amplification of Risk

    Open AccessJeanne X Kasperson, Eugene A Rosa et al.BOOKSocial Amplification of Risk2003

    The management of and communication about risks has become a major question of public policy and intellectual debate in the modern world. The social amplification of risk framework describes how both social and individual factors act to amplify or dampen perceptions of risk and through this create secondary effects such as stigmatisation of technologies, economic losses or regulatory impacts. This volume, edited by three of the world's leading an…

  • In the Chamber of Risk: Understanding Risk Controversies

    William Lei, William LeissARTICLECanadian Journal of Communication2002

  • In the Chamber of Risks: Understanding Risk Controversies

    William Lei, William LeissBOOKIn the Chamber of Risks2001

    Through a new set of detailed case studies William Leiss shows that while industry and governments have made much progress in responsibly managing risks to health and environment, they generally remain quite poor at managing their involvements with risk issues, that is, with the often intense controversies about the way in which risks should be managed. This organizational risk, associated with misunderstanding the nature of risk management issue…

  • Mad Cows and Mother’s Milk: The Perils of Poor Risk Communication

    Douglas Powell, William Lei et al.BOOKMad Cows and Mother's Milk1997

    Communicating the nature and consequences of environmental and health risks is one of the most problematic areas of public policy in Western democracies. Given the perceived risks associated with the food we eat, chemicals in the environment, and modern t

  • Three Phases in the Evolution of Risk Communication Practice

    Open AccessWilliam Lei, William LeissARTICLEThe Annals of the American…1996Cited by: 55References: 4

    Effective communication between interested parties is widely held to be a vital element in health and environmental risk management decision making. There have been three phases in the evolution of risk communication during the last twenty years. Phase I emphasized risk: in a modern industrial economy, we must have the capacity to manage risks at a very exacting level of detail. Phase II stresses communication: statements about risk situations ar…

  • Risk and Responsibility

    William Lei, William Leiss et al.BOOKRisk and Responsibility1994

  • Risk Society, Towards a New Modernity

    Open AccessWilliam Lei, William Leiss et al.REVIEWThe Canadian Journal of Sociology1994Cited by: 18

    Introduction - Scott Lash and Brian Wynne PART ONE: LIVING ON THE VOLCANO OF CIVILIZATION - THE CONTOURS OF THE RISK SOCIETY On the Logic of Wealth Distribution and Risk Distribution The Politics of Knowledge in the Risk Society PART TWO: THE INDIVIDUALIZATION OF SOCIAL INEQUALITY - LIFE-FORMS AND THE DEMISE OF TRADITION Beyond Status and Class? 'I am I' Gendered Space and the Conflict Inside and Outside the Family Individualization, Institutiona…

  • Assessing and managing risks

    Open AccessWilliam Lei, William LeissARTICLEPolicy Sciences1992

  • C.B. Macpherson: Dilemmas of Liberalism and Socialism

    Wallace Clement, William Lei et al.ARTICLELabour / Le Travail1991Cited by: 1

  • Under Technology's Thumb

    Open AccessZygmunt Bauman, William Lei et al.ARTICLEThe Canadian Journal of Sociology1991

  • Under Technology's Thumb

    Stanley R Carpenter, William Lei et al.ARTICLETechnology and Culture1991

  • Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities.Grant McCracken

    William Lei, William LeissARTICLEAmerican Journal of Sociology1989

  • The Limits to Satisfaction: An Essay on the Problem of Needs and Commodities

    William Lei, William LeissBOOKLimits to Satisfaction1988Cited by: 9

    At a time when the supply of resources is a problem, William Leiss analyses demand and consumption. Why do we need so much? Does the ability to choose from such a wide range of commodities give us more satisfaction? Why do we accept being pushed into buying products about which we know little because they promise to give us a particular characteristic - freshness, happiness, sex appeal

  • Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity, 1920-1940.Roland Marchand

    William Lei, William LeissARTICLEAmerican Journal of Sociology1986

  • The Icons of the Marketplace

    Open AccessWilliam Lei, William LeissARTICLETheory Culture & Society1983Cited by: 21References: 1

  • Ecology versus Politics in Canada

    C E S Franks, William Lei et al.ARTICLECanadian Public Policy1980Cited by: 4