Why is technocracy persistent in industrial risk? Empirical evidence from an in-depth case study in Italy

Bibliographic Data

ID4388938
AuthorsPaolo Crivellari (0000-0001-6032-0282, CERTOP, Université de Toulouse CNRS, UPS, UT2J Toulouse France), Riccardo Emilio Chesta (0000-0001-7962-1755, Department of Sociology and Political Sciences Scuola Normale Superiore Florence Italy)
Year2023
Volume73
Issue247
Pages157-171
Publication date2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Social Science Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-8701 • E-ISSN: 1468-2451
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/issj.12387
OpenAlexW4311831246
LanguageEN
References cited44

Risk expertise is characterised by procedures that emphasise scientific and technical aspects of risk management and downplay citizens' concerns and lay knowledge. In this paper, we aim at accounting for some of the reasons why technocracy is persistent in industrial risk expertise. Using the conceptual tools provided by the political sociology of expertise and based on empirical research conducted with mixed qualitative techniques, we study different types of expertise about industrial risk in the petrochemical area of Porto Marghera (Venice, Italy). The first one is performed by the Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale del Veneto (ARPAV, Regional Agency of Veneto for Environmental Protection), which is responsible for chemical risk management, and the plants of the area. The second one is performed by the Assemblea permanente contro il pericolo chimico (APCPC, Permanent Assembly Against Industrial Risk), a citizens' association of the neighbouring community of Marghera. In this case study, we show that technocratic procedures are persistent in industrial risk due to strategic relationships between the public administration in charge of risk regulation enforcement and private chemical companies, the absence of Italian laws on inclusive participatory arenas about industrial risk, and the characteristics of the citizens' mobilisation, which focuses on plants' delocalisation rather than challenging the ARPAV's and plants' technocracy

Agency (philosophy) · Business · Citizen journalism · Empirical evidence · Empirical research · Enforcement · Political science · Politics · Risk management · Social science · Sociology · Technocracy · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Finance · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Public Administration · Risk Perception and Management

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