The role of culture in the (re)production of inequalities of acceptable risk exposure
A case study in Singapore
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21148844 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anna Anderson (0000-0002-3369-7639, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 1-16 |
| Publication date | 2022-02-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Health Risk & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1369-8575 • E-ISSN: 1469-8331 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13698575.2021.2003306 |
| OpenAlex | W4200087701 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 16 |
The relationship between risk and inequality has become a key area of research and theoretical debate in sociology and risk studies more broadly. My aim in this paper is to explore the role culture plays in the (re)production of inequalities of risk exposure. More specifically, I examine the ways cultural systems shape and animate judgements about acceptable standards of risk exposure for different groups within a society. The case study examines divergent policy judgements about acceptable risk exposure to road accident injury and death between a group of temporary visa workers and all other private passengers in Singapore. A key objective of the paper is to demonstrate the conceptual and empirical utility of Mary Douglas’ cultural perspective for studying interconnections between risk and inequality. In particular, how taking up the problem of ‘risk acceptability’ is an effective way of approaching and studying the ways risk and inequality operate as mutually constitutive relations. In the discussion I show that what counts as risk and how acceptable or not risk is judged to be depends on the cultural system of classification used and the stratified social order it (re)produces. In the conclusion I consider the broader utility and significance of this critical approach for studying relations between risk and inequality through the problem of risk acceptability. A utility that may take on a particular significance in the present time of the COVID-19 pandemic
Business · Economics · Inequality · Microeconomics · Risk society · Social inequality · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Socioeconomic Development in Asia
Purity and Danger
Cultural theory and risk
Theorising uncertainty and risk across different modernities
Anthropology and risk
The mutual constitution of risk and inequalities
Anthropology and Risk
Risk Society
Intersectional Approaches in Health‐Risk Research
Why 'class' is too soft a category to capture the explosiveness of social inequality at the beginning of the twenty-first century
Becoming cosmopolitan
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2025 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |