Premium
Risk, interest groups and the definition of crisis: the case of volcanic ash
Author(s) -
Hutter Bridget M.,
LloydBostock Sally
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the british journal of sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.826
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1468-4446
pISSN - 0007-1315
DOI - 10.1111/1468-4446.12024
Subject(s) - volcano , volcanic ash , civil aviation , crisis response , business , financial crisis , key (lock) , political science , aviation , economy , risk analysis (engineering) , engineering , economics , public relations , computer security , computer science , macroeconomics , geology , seismology , aerospace engineering
This paper considers a key aspect of the ‘risk society’ thesis: the belief that we should be able to manage risks and control the world around us. In particular it focuses on the interface between risk and risk events as socially constructed and the insights that ‘critical situations’ give us into ‘the routine and mundane’, the otherwise taken for granted assumptions underlying risk regulation. It does this with reference to the events precipitated by the A pril 2010 volcanic eruption in the E yjafjallajökull area of I celand. The resulting cloud of volcanic ash spread across E urope and much of E urope's airspace was closed to civil aviation for six days, with far reaching consequences including huge financial losses for airlines. The social processes of defining and reacting to risk and crisis both reveal and generate dilemmas and challenges in regulation. This paper examines the role of different interest groups in defining risk expectations and thereby redefining the ash crisis as a regulatory crisis.