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Institutionalized Ignorance as a Precondition for Rational Risk Expertise

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  • Henrik Merkelsen

Abstract

The present case study seeks to explain the conditions for experts’ rational risk perception by analyzing the institutional contexts that constitute a field of food safety expertise in Denmark. The study highlights the role of risk reporting and how contextual factors affect risk reporting from the lowest organizational level, where concrete risks occur, to the highest organizational level, where the body of professional risk expertise is situated. The article emphasizes the role of knowledge, responsibility, loyalty, and trust as risk‐attenuation factors and concludes by suggesting that the preconditions for the expert's rationality may rather be a lack of risk‐specific knowledge due to poor risk reporting than a superior level of risk knowledge.

Suggested Citation

  • Henrik Merkelsen, 2011. "Institutionalized Ignorance as a Precondition for Rational Risk Expertise," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(7), pages 1083-1094, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:riskan:v:31:y:2011:i:7:p:1083-1094
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2010.01576.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paul Slovic, 1999. "Trust, Emotion, Sex, Politics, and Science: Surveying the Risk‐Assessment Battlefield," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 689-701, August.
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    3. Roger E. Kasperson & Ortwin Renn & Paul Slovic & Halina S. Brown & Jacque Emel & Robert Goble & Jeanne X. Kasperson & Samuel Ratick, 1988. "The Social Amplification of Risk: A Conceptual Framework," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(2), pages 177-187, June.
    4. Lennart Sjöberg, 2002. "Are Received Risk Perception Models Alive and Well?," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(4), pages 665-669, August.
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    1. Jérémy Eydieux & Stéphanie Tillement & Benoît Journé, 2016. "Élaboration des démonstrations et des évaluations de sûreté : une approche pragmatiste," Post-Print hal-01546183, HAL.

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