Julie Barnett

Renewable energy and sociotechnical change: imagined subjectivities of 'the public' and their implications

‘The public’ are potentially implicated in processes of sociotechnical change as political actors who welcome or resist technology development in general, or in particular places and settings. We argue in this paper that the potential influence of public subjectivities on sociotechnical change is realised not only through moments of active participation and protest, but also through ‘the public’ being imagined, given agency, and invoked for various purposes by actors in technical–industrial and policy networks. As a case study we explore the significance of an imagined and anticipated public subjectivity for the development of renewable energy technologies in the UK. We use interviews with a diversity of industry and policy actors to explore how imaginaries of the public are constructed from first-hand and mediated experience and knowledge, and the influence these imagined public subjectivities may have on development trajectories and on actor strategies and activities. We show how the shared expectation of an ever present latent but conditional public hostility to renewable energy project development is seen as shaping the material forms of the technologies, their evolving spatiality, and practices of public engagement involved in obtaining project consent. Implications for the actors we are interested in and for broader questions of democratic practice are considered.

Imagined publics and engagement around renewable energy technologies in the UK

Against the backdrop of the imperatives for actors within the institutional framework of energy socio-technical systems to engage with the public, the aim of this paper is to consider interdependencies between the principles and practice of engagement and the nature of the imagined publics with whom engagement is being undertaken. Based on an analysis of 19 interviews with actors in the renewable energy industry, the paper explores how publics are imagined in the construction of the rationales, functions and mechanisms for public engagement. Three main themes are identified. First, the perceived necessity of engagement – which is not contingent on public responsiveness. Second, engagement is primarily conceptualised in terms of instrumental motives of providing information and addressing public concern. Third, preferences for engagement mechanisms were often a function of the specific characteristics attributed to imagined publics. Implications of this analysis for future engagement around siting renewable energy technologies are considered.

How do peanut and nut-allergic consumers use information on the packaging to avoid allergens?

To cite this article: Barnett J, Leftwich J, Muncer K, Grimshaw K, Shepherd R, Raats MM, Gowland MH, Lucas JS. How do peanut and nut‐allergic consumers use information on the packaging to avoid allergens? Allergy 2011; 66: 969–978.

Industrial constructions of publics and public knowledge: a qualitative investigation of practice in the UK chemicals industry

While the rhetoric of public engagement is increasingly commonplace within industry, there has been little research that examines how lay knowledge is conceptualized and whether it is really used within companies. Using the chemicals sector as an example, this paper explores how companies conceive of publics and “public knowledge,” and how this relates to modes of engagement/communication with them. Drawing on qualitative empirical research in four companies, we demonstrate that the public for industry are primarily conceived as “consumers” and “neighbours,” having concerns that should be allayed rather than as groups with knowledge meriting engagement. We conclude by highlighting the dissonance between current advocacy of engagement and the discourses and practices prevalent within industry, and highlight the need for more realistic strategies for industry/public engagement.

Managing the possible health risks of mobile telecommunications:public understandings of precautionary action and advice

Abstract It has been suggested that precautionary approaches to managing the possible health risks of mobile telecommunications (MT) technology may cause or exacerbate public concerns. In contrast, precautionary approaches to managing such risks in the UK have been framed as a way of reducing public concerns. This article presents evidence from a series of focus groups about the understanding of the general public of the actions taken and advice given about potential MT health risks by the UK government. Eight focus groups were conducted with members of the public that varied in their age, their awareness and concern about mast siting, and their self-reported level of mobile phone use. From the analyses, a complex picture emerged in which the understanding of the general public was not primarily framed in terms of precautionary action and advice either provoking concern or providing reassurance. People made sense of precaution by drawing upon a range of evidence from their understanding of the costs and benefits of the technology, as well as the institutional context in which MT health risks were managed. For some of those involved in protesting against mast siting, precaution was seen as confirming existing concern. Further systematic exploration of the contexts within which different responses to precaution emerge is thus likely to be instructive.

Risk Perception and Technological Development at a Societal Level

This article tests the hypothesis that the exposure to the threat to societies posed by the introduction of new technologies is associated with a normalization of risk perception. Data collected in 2000 by the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) on environmental issues were used to explore this hypothesis. Representative samples from 25 countries were employed to assess the national levels of perceived threat to the environment associated with a series of technologies and activities. These values were correlated with economic indicators (mainly from the World Bank) of the diffusion of each of the technologies or activities in each country. Results indicate a negative association of risk perception with the level of technological prevalence (societal normalization effect) and a positive association with the rate of growth of the technology (societal sensitivity effect). These results indicate that the most acute levels of perceived environmental risk are found in those countries where the level of technological prevalence is low but where there has recently been substantial technological development. Environmental awareness is a mediator of the relationship between risk perception and the indices of technological diffusion. This result means that: (1) societal normalization of risk is not a direct consequence of prevalence of the technology, but is driven by awareness of technological development and that (2) societal sensitivity to risk is associated with lower levels of environmental awareness.

A review of consumer awareness, understanding and use of food-based dietary guidelines

Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) have primarily been designed for the consumer to encourage healthy, habitual food choices, decrease chronic disease risk and improve public health. However, minimal research has been conducted to evaluate whether FBDG are utilised by the public. The present review used a framework of three concepts, awareness, understanding and use, to summarise consumer evidence related to national FBDG and food guides. Searches of nine electronic databases, reference lists and Internet grey literature elicited 939 articles. Predetermined exclusion criteria selected twenty-eight studies for review. These consisted of qualitative, quantitative and mixed study designs, non-clinical participants, related to official FBDG for the general public, and involved measures of consumer awareness, understanding or use of FBDG. The three concepts of awareness, understanding and use were often discussed interchangeably. Nevertheless, a greater amount of evidence for consumer awareness and understanding was reported than consumer use of FBDG. The twenty-eight studies varied in terms of aim, design and method. Study quality also varied with raw qualitative data, and quantitative method details were often omitted. Thus, the reliability and validity of these review findings may be limited. Further research is required to evaluate the efficacy of FBDG as a public health promotion tool. If the purpose of FBDG is to evoke consumer behaviour change, then the framework of consumer awareness, understanding and use of FBDG may be useful to categorise consumer behaviour studies and complement the dietary survey and health outcome data in the process of FBDG evaluation and revision.

Sensitive questions and response effects: an evaluation

The literature relating to asking sensitive questions in surveys is reviewed and evaluated. It is argued that work relating to the nature of associated response effects and the development of strategies designed to cope with these embodies a number of largely unexamined assumptions. These are identified in three main areas. First, clarification is necessary in relation to the way in which sensitivity is defined and operationalised. Second, the relationship between sensitivity and context is explored with particular reference to identity. Finally, some of the implications of the link between assurances of anonymity and responses to sensitive questions are explored. In conclusion it is suggested that the benefits of methodology sophistication will be most apparent in the context of the theoretical development of these issues.

The social amplification of risk and the hazard sequence: the October 1995 oral contraceptive pill scare

Hazard notifications routinely occur as part of the identification or management of a hazard. It is argued that a series of such notifications – a hazard sequence – may affect public responses to future notifications about that hazard and also that hazard sequences can help explain patterns of risk amplification, particularly how a risk becomes normalised. Exploration of the hazard sequence also means exploring hazard templates: frameworks through which people make sense of risk information across the lifetime of the hazard. Events surrounding the 1995 oral contraceptive ‘pill scare’ are used to illustrate the way in which a hazard sequence might operate.

The challenges for nut-allergic consumers of eating out

Cite this as: J. Leftwich, J. Barnett, K. Muncer, R. Shepherd, M. M. Raats, M. Hazel Gowland and J. S. Lucas, Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 2011 (41) 243–249.