James Tansey

Cultural theory and risk: A review

Cultural theory has evolved over the past 20 years to become an important framework for understanding how groups in society interpret danger and build trust or distrust in institutions creating and regulating risk. This paper examines the theoretical roots of cultural theory, traces its passage in the risk literature, and explores its value in current risk management issues. It concludes that cultural theory continues to be of value, but that its role needs to be reassessed in the emerging age of deliberative science. Some examples of how cultural theory might be applied to health risk management and to the genetic modification of food debate are provided to illustrate the scope for further research.

Co-production, emergent properties and strong interactive social research: the Georgia Basin Futures Project

A strong programme in interactive social research can be distinguished by the relationships it seeks to establish among four key parties in the research process - the sponsors of research, the research team, independent organisations (from the governmental, non-governmental and commercial sectors) and the interested public. The knowledge that is the result of a research project is a co-production of researchers, players and partners, and is therefore an emergent property of their interaction. The Georgia Basin Futures Project is one attempt to operationalise a form of strong interactive social research. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

The Future Is Not What It Used To Be: Participatory Integrated Assessment In The Georgia Basin

Integrated assessment (IA) is a rapidly evolving field and in recent years the introduction of participatory methods has resulted in the development of a more diverse set of tools. The Georgia Basin Futures Project is presented and reviewed in the context of this expanding portfolio of IA methodologies. The project is an ambitious attempt to combine qualitative scenario methods with a computer-based gaming tool on a regional scale. The paper suggests that the particular combination of methods and the scale of the analysis represent a viable model for the future regional IAs.

The impact of psychosocial work conditions on attempted and completed suicide among western Canadian sawmill workers

Background: Using a large cohort of western Canadian sawmill workers (n=28,794), the association between psychosocial work conditions and attempted and completed suicide was investigated. Methods: Records of attempted and completed suicide were accessed through a provincial hospital discharge registry to identify cases that were then matched using a nested case control method. Psychosocial work conditions were estimated by expert raters using the demand—control model. Univariate and multivariate conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the association between work conditions and suicide. Results: In multivariate models, controlling for sociodemographic (marital status, ethnicity) and occupational confounders (job mobility and duration), low psychological demand was associated with increased odds for completed suicide, and low social support was associated with increased odds for attempted suicides. Conclusions: This study indicates that workers with poor psychosocial working conditions may be at increased risk of both attempted and completed suicide.

Risk as politics, culture as power

The cultural theory of risk has been misinterpreted in recent years. Most significantly, the grid–group typology, which was originally developed as a heuristic device, embedded in a much deeper sociological theory, has been taken out this original context. Both the ontological foundations and the epistemological implications of cultural theory have been misunderstood in a significant number of cases. This paper provides a summary of the neo‐Durkheimian institutional theory from which the typology was derived and suggests a number of relatively unexplored avenues for risk research.

Towards community engagement: six steps to expert learning for future scenario development

Abstract This paper describes a variety of facilitated exercises for use in collaborative workshops where experts are brought together to create archetypes that feed into the design of alternative scenarios for the future of their area of expertise (e.g., forestry, housing, transportation, food systems and waste). In this case, these workshops were designed to aid in the development of a computer-based sustainability tool (GB-Quest) that supports a larger process of community engagement and dialogue focused on sustainability in the southwestern portion of British Columbia, Canada. Value-focused thinking and a narrative-based structure provided the framework for this dialogue and a template for asking hard questions about the assumptions and biases related to the alternatives. Using examples, this paper outlines and details this process and then suggests possible next steps in this ongoing process.

Paternal psychosocial work conditions and mental health outcomes: a case-control study.

BackgroundThe role of social and family environments in the development of mental health problems among children and youth has been widely investigated. However, the degree to which parental working conditions may impact on developmental psychopathology has not been thoroughly studied.MethodsWe conducted a case-control study of several mental health outcomes of 19,833 children of sawmill workers and their association with parental work stress, parental socio-demographic characteristics, and paternal mental health.ResultsMultivariate analysis conducted with four distinct age groups (children, adolescents, young adults, and adults) revealed that anxiety based and depressive disorders were associated with paternal work stress in all age groups and that work stress was more strongly associated with alcohol and drug related disorders in adulthood than it was in adolescence and young adulthood.ConclusionThis study provides support to the tenet that being exposed to paternal work stress during childhood can have long lasting effects on the mental health of individuals.

Industrial Ecology and Planning: Assessing and Socially Embedding Green Technological Systems

The notion that industrial systems can be redesigned to reflect ‘lessons from nature’ has led to the emergence of a new discipline known as ‘industrial ecology’. In this paper I provide a brief overview of the principles that underpin the discipline, and provide a critical evaluation of the extent to which it is guided by ecology or simply uses the label for rhetorical support. I suggest that simply appealing to ecological analogies is not sufficient to ensure that the impacts of industrial activities are reduced. Further, I propose that the technical process of industrial design needs to be embedded in legitimate social processes if social acceptability is to be attained.

The meanings of genomics: a focus group study of "interested" and lay classifications of salmon genomics

Risk researchers have traditionally examined technologies that have become stigmatized in the public realm. In this study, we examine a prior cognitive phenomenon, which assumes that technologies are classified according to the non-scientific taxonomies that individuals use to make sense of the world. We describe the coarse taxonomies revealed during five focus groups involving expert and non-expert participants. The study suggests that in discussions of salmon genomics, participants consistently conflate genomic research with transgenic applications. The authors discuss the implications of this phenomenon for public policy.

Sustainability issues of commercial non-timber forest product extraction in West Suriname

BackgroundNon-timber forest products (NTFPs) have been traded for millennia by indigenous communities. Current increased demands driven by globalisation, however, put more pressure on local harvesters and their surrounding ecosystems. The safeguarding of indigenous access rights to harvesting grounds is needed, either through communal land titles or collaborative management agreements, both to secure prior indigenous rights and to minimise further negative ecological impacts.MethodsThis study was carried out in two indigenous communities in West Suriname located along the Corentyne River. We assessed the three economically most important NTFPs for each community. We determined the land tenure status of harvesting grounds and negative impacts on target species and/or ecosystem. Ethnobotanical data were collected (n = 53), and semi-structured interviews were held with hunters and gatherers (n = 13). Local and national maps were acquired, and their data merged.ResultsResults showed that the communities have no tenure security over their most important harvesting sites. These collection sites are State owned and some under (active) logging concession. All of the traded wild animal populations had decreased because of increased local and non-local commercial interest, especially the stingray Potamotrygon boesemani (first described in 2008), which was traded for US