Forskargruppen KRIHS, Kris och risk i det heterogena samhället, har fått uppdraget att skriva en kunskapsöversikt inom ramen för MSB:s verksamhetsområden skydd mot olyckor, krishantering och civil beredskap. Uppdraget har gjorts i samarbete med Eva-Lena Demarin som stått för stora delar av sammanställningen av tidigare forskning samt delar av övriga avsnitt. Undertecknad ansvarar för översiktens vetenskapliga kvalitet. Kunskapsöversikten är dock ett resultat av forskargruppens gemensamma ansträngningar. Tillsammans med Eva-Lena har gruppen träffats vid fem tillfällen varav vid ett seminarium där texten diskuterats och reviderats. De som varit med och diskuterat, samlat in material och/eller skrivit delar av översikten är förutom ovan nämnda, Erna Danielsson, Sara Ekholm, Linda Eliasson, Roine Johansson, Jörgen Sparf, Erika Wall och Susanna Öhman.
Då både tiden och utrymmet har varit begränsat gör vi inga anspråk på att kunskapsöversikten är heltäckande. Den ska snarare ses som en ganska grovkorning bild av de senaste tio årens risk- och krisforskning rörande uppfattningar, kommunikation och organisation. Det huvudsakliga bidraget är att översikten identifierar vissa områden där kunskapsuppbyggnad behövs. På så sätt kan översikten ses som en karta där vissa kompassriktningar markerats utifrån vilka MSB kan välja vilka som passar myndighetens framtida verksamhet.
Resultaten från Eurobarometern visar att svenskarna är relativt kunniga och teknikoptimistiska om man jämför med övriga Europa. Svenskarna är mer positiva till röd genteknik (medicinska tillämpningar och gendiagnostik) än till grön (lantbruks- och matorienterad) genteknik. Generellt sätt är attityderna något mer positiva år 2002 än 1999. Båda åren har svenskarna mer positiva attityder till både genteknik och bioteknik än EU i genomsnitt. Genmodifierade livsmedel är dock en tillämpning av genteknik som svenskarna är klart negativa till. Mindre än hälften av intervjupersonerna skulle köpa eller äta genförändrade livsmedel, och för flera situationer ligger andelen så lågt som under en fjärdedel. Det som i högst grad lockar är miljörelaterade situationer. Jämfört med genmodifierad mat är intervjupersonerna betydligt mer positiva till terapeutisk kloning av stamceller. Svenskarna är även här mer positivt inställda än övriga EU-medborgare. När det gäller genetisk integritet – bl a vad gäller Försäkringskassans möjlighet att få tillgång till människors genetiska information – är svenskarna tvärtom mest skeptiska i Europa. Om en genteknisk tillämpning bedöms som riskfylld eller inte spelar så gott som ingen roll för vilken bedömning man som individ gör vad gäller om tillämpningen ska uppmuntras eller inte. Det är i stället nyttan och den moraliska acceptansen som avgör – men en viktig förändring är att nytta, som år 1999 var hälften så betydelsefull som moralisk halt, år 2002 har samma förklaringskraft som moral. Detta får ses som ett tecken på att den existentiella nimbusen kring genteknik är på väg att avta. Resultaten från medieanalysen bekräftar att gentekniken blivit en nyhet som andra nyheter. Den är varken lika kontroversiell eller mystisk som tidigare. Under början av 1990-talet fokuserar bevakningen på medicinska tillämpningar. Mot slutet av decenniet är det genmodifierad mat och det klonade fåret Dolly som dominerar bevakningen, något som leder till att mängden kritiska och kontroversiella artiklar ökar. Under de tre första åren av 2000-talet skiftar fokus igen, och den här gången är det stamcellsforskningen som är i fokus. Intresset för ekonomiska aspekter av gentekniken ökar samtidigt vilket, tillsammans med de höga förväntningarna på stamcellsforskningen, leder till en betydligt mer positiv och neutral bevakning.
This is the fifth in a series of Eurobarometer surveys on biotechnology and the life sciences. The surveys have been conducted in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1999 and in 2002. The survey is based on a representative sample of 16 500 respondents, approximately 1 000 in each EU member state (see report for exceptions). Survey design and analysis was conducted by an international research group ‘Life Sciences in European Society’ supported by DG Research. In a year when many European countries are involved in public discussions on aspects of biotechnology, this survey stands as a contribution to the informed debate.
Our modern society is exposed to multiple hazards and risks. To manage these successfully, it is important to have a good overview of the risks that potentially affect our society and how they are perceived and valued. This pilot study investigated possible ways of mapping and analysing risks that Swedish society and its inhabitants are exposed to and aware of. The aim was to capture complementary perspectives on accidents and crises, and to provide a point of departure for future planning and data collection strategies. To achieve this, previous studies are mapped and critically assessed and an example of a method of analysis is presented. The following questions have guided the work: 1) What methods are currently available to describe risks at a broader societal level? 2) What are the limitations, advantages and disadvantages of these existing methods? 3) Which of these methods are of relevance to Sweden? Summarizing previous studies, the report includes examples of methods, structures and data visualizations for mapping risks nationally or in larger regions. The report analyses 11 types of existing study or report as a source of inspiration and to scope existing gaps for potential improvement. The report makes recommendations for national level risk mapping in a Swedish context, supported by an empirical example.
This paper develops the concepts of ‘doing’ and ‘undoing’ risk, a new approach to risk research that echoes the ‘doing gender’ of gender studies. In this way, we combine intersectional and risk theory and apply the new perspective to empirical material. To better explore the doing and undoing, or the performance, of risk, we will refer to practices that simultaneously (re)produce and hide socio-political norms and positions, played out in contemporary, hierarchical relations of power and knowledge. The aim is to develop a theoretical understanding of doing and undoing risk. The study makes use of transcripts from five focus group interviews with men and women, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of different ages living in Sweden to develop a theory of ‘doing risk’. The doing of risk of our informants takes place within the frame of a hegemonic heteronormativity. The way that risks are perceived and done in everyday life therefore always needs to be read within a frame of prevailing structures of power. This counts for all of us as we are all part of the hegemonic power structures and thereby are both subject to the intersecting doings of risk and performatively reproducing these power structures in practice. © 2017 Taylor & Francis.
Subjective feelings of risk are a central feature of everyday life, and evidence shows that people who do not conform to contemporary normative notions are often more exposed to everyday risks than others. Despite this, normative notions are rarely acknowledged as risk objects. By drawing on the theory of ‘doing’ and ‘undoing’ risk, which combines intersectional and risk theory, this study contributes new perspectives on the everyday risks in contemporary society that face people who many would label as being ‘at risk’ – lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The study consists of five focus group interviews with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of different ages in Sweden. Findings pinpoint risks and how these are done and un-done in different spheres of interviewees’ lives: the emotional risks prevailing in their private lives; the risk of discrimination at work and in relations with other institutions; and the risk of violence and harassment in public places. These risks are all related to the heteronormative order in which the mere fact of being lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender is perceived as a risk. © 2016 Taylor & Francis.
The overall aim of the paper is to explore two key areas in crisis management: (a) the role of local communities in crisis preparedness and response, and (b) how to involve the citizens in this task. Specifically we ask: What areas are important to develop in order for public resilience to be enhanced? The study has a broad scope and utilizes a novel design since it takes four stakeholder perspectives into consideration: the perspectives of municipal safety coordinators, members of voluntary organizations, semiorganized individuals, and nonorganized individuals. In total 33 in-depth interviews were undertaken in three different Swedish municiplaities. Seven major themes related to enhanced public resilience were developed in the analytic process: a) Collaboration: formal and informal practices, b) Specific competences and general abilities, c) Collective efforts and individual self help, d) Education and empowerment, e) Traditional communication versus digital media, f) Individual motivation and involvement, and g) Generation and age. From these themes four policy-level recommendations aimed for civil servants and similar public authority representatives. The recommendations consist of four key words, or ‘The four In:s; Inclusive, Interested, Insistent, and Inventive’. The study is part of an extensive research project, Public Empowerment Policies for Crisis Management, funded as part of the European Community's Seventh Framework Program.
In this report, we present the final results of our study on experiences and requirements for a community approach involving social groups in crisis preparedness and response. Included are the views of representatives of local authorities, voluntary organizations and the general public on risk and crisis management and public empowerment. First, the background and aim of the study are introduced, followed by a summary of the previous research. Next, the methods and the procedures employed in the interview studies are described, along with ethical considerations. We then report and analyze the research findings as well future research possibilities.
The main results of this study indicate specific areas of importance for the understanding and development of community approaches that include social groups in crisis preparedness and response. These areas are Collaboration, Formal and informal practices, General ability and specific competence, Dynamics between collective efforts and individual self-help, Aspects of education and empowerment, Traditional communication versus digital media, Individual involvement, and Age and generation. A general observation is also that the scope and depth of collaboration between public and municipal emerge, actors and voluntary organizations differ widely depending on population density and the size and geographical characteristics of the local community. These factors seem to have most impact on how formal the collaboration between the professional and voluntary organizations is and on issues related to resources of different kinds.
We have previously reported on a study of the academic literature on community approaches involving the public in crisis management.
In evaluating complex new technologies, people are usually dependent on information provided by others, for example, experts or journalists, and have to determine whether theycan trust these information sources. This article focuses on similarity as the basis for trust.The first experiment (N = 261) confirmed that a journalist writing about genetically modified (GM) food was trusted more when his attitude was congruent with that of his readers. In addition, the experiment showed that this effect was mediated by the perceived similarity of thejournalist. The second experiment (N = 172) revealed that trust in a journalist writing aboutthe focal domain of GM food was even influenced by him expressing a congruent attitudein an unrelated domain. This result supports a general similarity account of the congruenceeffect on trust, as opposed to a confirmatory bias account. © 2009 Society for Risk Analysis.
When it comes to issues such as genetic engineering, it is important to take into account external sources in the understanding of attitude formation. It is evident that there might be differences in media coverage, policy decisions and other culturally based sources of information when comparing the South with the North of Europe. The objective of this background is to give a short summary of the situation concerning genetic engineering in each cluster of countries in the South and the North of Europe. © 2003 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Genom att jämföra människor med olika livskontext är syftet att se hur de uppfattar risker och om det Beck kallar nya risker uppfattas olika av olika grupper i det svenska samhället. Differentierar människor mellan traditionella och nya risker? Anses nya risker som mer allvarliga än de traditionella och är det möjligt att spåra ett ökande engagemang bland människor vad gäller nya risker?
The aim of this study is to empirically test Roudometof's suggested one-dimensional operationalization of transnationalism, from cosmopolitanism to localism, and compare it with an alternative two-dimensional operationalization. The study uses Swedish survey data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), for 1995 and 2003. The results indicate that a two-dimensional, rather than a one-dimensional, solution fits the data better. Transnationalism can therefore be seen as one dimension ranging from local to global and one ranging from protectionism to openness. The same result was obtained for both 1995 and 2003. The results also show that people with different attitudes differ socioeconomically and that there is a trend over time towards more protectionist, rather than open, attitudes among the Swedish public. © International Sociological Association.
The aim of the study was to empirically test whether grouping people according to their general beliefs, combined with positional factors, can explain environmental concern, and whether there are country differences in this respect. The study is based on the United States, Canadian, Norwegian, and Swedish parts of The International Social Survey Program (ISSP) survey 2000 on environmental concern. The four countries were paired resulting in a comparison between North America and Scandinavia. The results showed that general beliefs, together with education and political affiliation, were the most stable predictors of environmental concern, and that adding general beliefs to the analysis improves the explanatory power in a significant way. © 2006 Sage Publications.
In this article, the aim is to analyse how the insemination of images of a cow is entangled with perceptions of gene technology through the ‘doing’ of risk, nature, periphery and gender in Sweden. Two types of data have been used; the 1996 Eurobarometer survey on public opinion and a corpus of articles from the Swedish daily press. 13.6% of the respondents thought about the Belgian Blue cattle in relation to gene technology. Those who associated to the ‘Belgian Blue’ were more negative to gene technology on a general level, but did not differ from the rest of the sample in their attitudes to the specific applications of gene technology. Only one media article states that Belgian Blue is genetically modified, while 13% mention that the breed has a genetic defect, and almost all of the articles are very negative to the breed. The mass media achieved its most significant effects by (re)creating meanings and frames, frames which the public participated in co-creating and which were sometimes incorporated by the individual into his or her personal understanding of gene technology, in this case, the Belgian Blue as an image of gene technology. The conclusion was that terms like gene technology are so abstract that people have problems in understanding the meaning of the concepts and then turn to easily accessible images for instance in the media.
Vi blir alltmer medvetna om de risker som omger oss i dagens samhälle. På en global nivå handlar det om klimatförändringar, terrorism, svält och översvämningar, medan det som berör flest människor i Sverige fortfarande är faror i vardagen som rökning, trafik och sjukdomar. Kunskap om hur risker uppfattas, kommuniceras och hanteras av individer och i samhället är viktig för att både offentliga och privata verksamheter ska fungera väl.
Risker i det moderna samhället : samhällsvetenskapliga perspektiv ger en introduktion till samhällsvetenskaplig riskforskning och presenterar aktuell svensk forskning. Boken behandlar riskbegreppet utifrån förutsättningen att vi lever i ett heterogent samhälle. Den visar att denna heterogenitet är viktig både för att förstå individens riskuppfattning och behov av kommunikation, och för att få ett begrepp om olika organisationers hantering av risker och kriser.
Boken vänder sig till studerande inom sociologi, socialpsykologi, psykologi och riskhantering på universitet och högskola samt yrkesverksamma inom krisberedskap och riskhantering.
Innehåll: En samhällsvetenskaplig modell, Social sårbarhet - teoretiska förklaringar, Från riskperception till riskförståelse.
Ulrich Beck's theory of risk society has been criticised because there is lack of empirical evidence. By comparing people with different life contexts and experiences, the aim of this study was to investigate how these people view risk, and if 'new' risks are perceived differently by different groups in society. Five focus-group interviews were conducted in Sweden, in 2004/05, with people in rural and urban areas, people with a foreign background and experts. The groups consisted of four people each and lasted for two hours. The results show that 'new' risks are not something people worry about; 'risk' is associated with personal experiences and life context. This indicates a traditional or at least modern way of viewing risk, and contradicts the idea of a reflexive view of risk. However, a division between the urban versus the rural-migrant groups appears: the expert-urban groups show a more global - fatalistic strategy to handle of risk, while the rural - migrant group shows a more traditional approach to risk, where control and the local context are in focus.
The aim is to investigate differences in risk perception and behaviour among different population groups selected by gender, age, country of birth, disability and sexual orientation in the light of general values and vulnerability. The analyses use data from two Swedish national surveys from 2005 to 2008. People with foreign background perceive controlled and dread risks as a greater threat than do native-born people, but there is no difference in behaviour when general values and vulnerability have been controlled for. Compared to women, men rate known and dread risks as lower, but controlled risks as higher. Further, men’s behaviour is more risk-oriented and less risk-reducing, and homosexuals and bisexuals are more likely than heterosexuals to report risk behaviour. Compared to previous studies of the so-called White Male Effect carried out in the USA, gender does not play a similar role in Sweden. On the contrary, it seems as if gender is of less importance and that the strength of the association varies depending on type of risk or risk behaviour. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.
The objective of this article is to further develop intersectional perspectives and feminist knowledge in environmental sociology. Environmental sociology has developed a critical theoretical frame with which to describe the social construction of risk, and this article further develops the understanding of the complex multidimensionality of the social relations that shape the lived experience of risk. An analytical and integrating discourse that acknowledges the connectedness of these dimensions and the influence of their interactions on the representation, production and reproduction of risk in society remains an unrealized ambition. Intersectional risk theory shows that risk is constituted and produced in social and geographic spaces, as well as the various power relations that prevail there, and consequently, risk is not only defined and managed differently but also the intersections of privilege and subordination are themselves reproduced through risk management. Using climate risks as a starting point, we propose a perspective for the study of risks that analyses the dynamic, ambiguous character of the doing of risk. Our intent is to investigate how risk discourses are entangled with the doing of class, gender and race, as well as with the differentiation between human and nature. Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited.
This is a study of the relationship between trust in institutions and attitudes to gene technology in general, and GM food and stem cell research in particular. The role of so-called active trust is emphasised, meaning that trust is neither conceived as a trait nor a one-dimensional concept. The study uses data from a Eurobarometer survey of gene technology in Europe, conducted in 2002. People's attitudes in five European counties, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and United Kingdom are compared, and the significance of trust in institutions in these countries is investigated. The results show that trust in institutions has an impact on attitudes to gene technology. Trust in experts, stakeholders and official bodies are associated with positive attitudes to GM food and stem cell research, whereas trust in Non-Governmental Organisations is associated with negative perceptions of these technologies. This confirms the significant role of active trust.
The Eurobarometer on Biotechnology (46.1) was conducted during October and November 1996. The survey conducted in each EU (European Union) country used a multi-stage random sampling procedure and provided a statistically representative sample of national residents aged 15 and over. The total sample within the EU was 16,246 respondents (about 1,000 per EU country). The survey questionnaire was designed by the authors as part of a larger study involving the comparative analysis of public perceptions, media coverage and public policy in relation to biotechnology from 1973 to the present.
This article takes as its departure point the questions Which discourses figure in the news media's coverage of natural disasters?' and What are the possible unintended consequences of this type of crisis communication?' The overall aim is to elucidate the development of risk discourses, struggles over discursive legitimacy, and shifts in argumentation to legitimate or delegitimate certain actors and actions in relation to a widespread and devastating wildfire in the summer of 2014 in Sweden. The chosen media outlets are one national agenda-setting morning newspaper, one national evening tabloid, and one local newspaper. All coverage in these newspapers from the period of the wildfire (1-31 August 2014) were selected and analyzed. By employing a critical discourse analysis of three different newspapers' crisis communication flows during the one-month-long wildfire, we show how crisis communication is in fact embedded in discourses of power related to gender and rurality. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Rapporten behandlar hur risker, säkerhet och olyckor upplevs, värderas och bedöms av olika grupper i samhället. Syftet har inte enbart varit att kartlägga den enskilda medborgarens värdering och skattning utan att även möjliggöra förebyggande arbete i konkreta situationer. Befolkningens heterogenitet i termer av kön, ålder, ursprung, funktionshinder och sexuell läggning har fokuserats just för att förbättra samhällets förmåga att hantera risker och förmedla riskkommunikation till olika grupper. Med heterogenitet menar vi att invånarna skiljer sig från varandra i termer av resurser, värderingar och erfarenheter. Inom projektet har två huvudstudier gjorts; en med nio kvalitativa fokusgruppintervjuer med människor från olika grupper bland den svenska allmänheten. Selektionskriteriet för grupperna var heterogenitet. Den andra studien var en enkätstudie där urvalet bestod av 3 000 personer boende i Sverige i åldern 16-75 år, uppdelat på tre slumpmässiga underurval: 2 000 personer i hela riket, svarsfrekvens 59 %. 750 personer i församlingar med hög andel personer med utländsk bakgrund, svarsfrekvens 36 %. 250 personer i glesbygdslän, svarsfrekvens 55 %. Urval 2 och 3 gjordes för att säkerställa att tillräckligt många personer med utländsk bakgrund och personer boende i glesbygd ingick i urvalet. Enkäten bestod av ett stort antal frågor om t.ex. riskuppfattningar, riskkommunikation, riskbeteende, värderingar, resurser och olika typer av bakgrundsvariabler. Våra resultat visar att heterogenitetsgrunderna i varierande grad spelar roll för förståelsen av människors riskuppfattningar, riskkommunikation och risk- eller säkerhetsbeteenden. De undersökta grupperna upplever olika risker på olika sätt, vill ha varierande typ av riskkommunikation och har också skilda riskbeteenden. Dessa resultat kvarstår även om man tar hänsyn till värderingar, sårbarhet, kön och inkomst och illustrerar vikten av att ta med heterogeniteten i samhället vid studier av risker för att synliggöra de variationer som finns i samhället. Utifrån intervjustudierna kan vi dra slutsatserna att människor förstår risk utifrån sina egna erfarenheter och vardagshändelser, samt att när det gällde nya risker, t.ex. kärnkraft och klimatförändringar hade de studerade grupperna olika strategier för att hantera och leva med dessa. Med utgångspunkt i teorin om risksamhället har en modell av riskuppfattningar med två dimensioner konstruerats; kontroll–fatalism och lokalt–globalt. Att gruppera människor enligt dessa föreslagna dimensioner kan vara ett sätt att öka vår förståelse för att olika grupper av allmänheten kan ha samma uppfattning om en specifik risk, men denna uppfattning är grundad i olika kontext. Detta stämmer också vad gäller riskförståelse, att de intervjuade förankrade sin förståelse för olika risker mot å ena sidan riskens betydelse för mig personligen eller oss kollektivt, och å andra sidan hur risken upplevdes i relation till här lokalt eller där globalt, alltså en rumslig förankring. Sammanfattningsvis kan man säga att rapporten visar på behovet av att i större utsträckning beakta befolkningens heterogenitet i det riskförebyggande arbetet. Rapporten avslutas med sex stycken råd för en förbättrad riskkommunikation.
This chapter combines sociological risk research with feminist theory and explorative methodology. This provides a more comprehensive account of the complexity of intersecting social forces at work when social inequalities are (re)produced, as risk is entangled with power assemblages such as gender, class and ethnicity, which together produce positions of privilege and subordination. Using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to visualise risk and uncertainty in everyday life, an empirical example demonstrates that risk perceptions are not linear, that they vary by type of risk and that intersectional assemblages capture a level of complexity beyond single categories such as gender, ethnicity or class. © The Authors 2019
The article explores the complex patterns of inequality in Sweden from an intersectional standpoint by developing a methodological strategy using data from quantitative national survey material. Intersectionality stands in contrast to the inductive and hypothesis-testing approaches, which tend to reproduce categories as having an essential and stable meaning. It is generally acknowledged that quantitative approaches to intersectionality are rare or in development. Quantitative analyses tend to disregard some of the theoretical cornerstones of intersectionality: in particular, the relational and fluid character of categories. This may be why intersectionality researchers tend to reject quantitative approaches altogether. To address this dilemma, Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) is applied as a means of linking objective structures to subjective experiences, and it is argued that this methodology is well suited to detecting and capturing social spaces of privilege and oppression. The result shows that this kind of quantitative approach to intersectional analysis can facilitate the exploration of inequalities and positions of privilege across populations and globally at particular times, as well as contributing to ontological and epistemological perspectives on intersectionality. By exploring what the category is said to describe and how these parts relate to other sub-categories, especially about time and place settings and their intersections, we were able to identify relationships between structures of oppression and subjective experiences at a particular time and in a particular place, which is important in understanding both inequalities and positions of privilege. These analyses not only illuminate the hegemonic structures of power that create subordinated and privileged positions but also help us to theorize the non-linear and stochastic relations between and within these positions. This methodological advance also has important implications for social policy. © 2018 National Research University Higher School of Economics. All rights reserved.