The role of expert and lay knowledge in understanding and managing risk.

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The role of expert and lay knowledge in understanding and managing risk.

  1. Introduction.
  2. Risk.
  3. Expert knowledge.
  4. Lay knowledge
  5. Conclusion.
  6. References

Introduction.

This report looks at the concept of risk which for the purpose of the report “is a state in which there is a possibility of known danger/harm which if avoided may lead to benefits” (Carter and Jordan, 2009, p.59) and examines ways in which different areas of knowledge are developed and what role they play in helping people to understand and manage risk.

Risk

  • Risk is “is a state in which there is a possibility of known danger/harm which if avoided may lead to benefits” (Carter and Jordan, 2009, p.59).
  • An activity that has the potential to put the user at risk of danger/harm
  • All activities that have risks have an element of doubt; to be exposed to a risk is to be exposed to the chance that it may cause an element of danger/harm to one’s self.

Beck’s account of Risk society (1989) claims that we are changing from an industrial society to one where,

  • There are significant effects from modernisation.
  • Invisible risks that cannot be determined by an individual’s own means.
  • Dependency on expert knowledge.
  • “The extent of people’s material exposure to danger/harm is essentially reliant on knowledge created by experts” (Carter and Jordan, 2009, p.80).
  • Rapid growth in public awareness of risk.
  • The amount of risks within society focuses at the distribution of harm.

While examining the two types of knowledge used in determining how risks are made and understood this report will provide evidence for the importance of expert knowledge as Beck saw it and for lay knowledge and public opinion which is not so straightforwardly determined.

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Expert knowledge

Expert knowledge is used to define the risks in everyday life enabling people to determine how it may impact on them. In a case study of Jordan’s London borough of hackney allotment there are two examples of noegenisis as a result of scientific tests on soil samples (Carter and Jordan, 2009, p.63).

Test one used a process of soil sampling and testing which is widely accepted to create a risk by raising awareness of poisons in the sampled soil, the test showed that the soil contained a level of toxins which were above acceptable limits. Due to the ...

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