Gender theories and risk perception: a secondary analysis

Completed

Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fission, Other nuclear fission)
Not Energy Related

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Sociology)

Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)
Other (Energy technology information dissemination)

Professor Pidgeon
Psychology
Cardiff University

Standard

ESRC

01 February 2006

30 June 2007

17 months

£47,865

No relevance to Underpinning Sectors

Wales

ESRC Energy

Professor Pidgeon, Psychology, Cardiff University

Prof K Henwood, Social Sciences, Cardiff University
Prof A Irwin, School of Social Sciences, Brunel University

Objectives not supplied

A longstanding quantitative finding common to many surveys of public risk perceptions is that women respondents typically report higher levels of concern about environmental and technological hazards (eg climate change, nuclear energy, air pollution) compared to men. Recent research also indicates that this empirical relationship may be more complex than was first thought, in that the observed statistical relationship may be due to some sub-groups within society having much lower risk concernsthan all others. However, the current literature fails to offer adequate theoretical explanations for the observed relationships between gender and risk perceptions. The research will address this deficit of theory through a multi-level investigation and critical synthesis of the ways in which contemporary gender theory, drawn from social psychology and science and technology studies in particular, might account for the observed empirical findings on gender and risk. Methods to be used are a desk study and a secondary qualitative analysis of existing focus group data sets of women and men talking about risk, technology and science. The project outputs will include a theoretical synthesis, recommendations for science communication and public engagement policy, and pointers to future research.

06/09/11