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Revolution Blues: The Reconstruction of Health and Safety Law as ‘Common‐sense’ Regulation
Author(s) -
Almond Paul
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of law and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.263
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1467-6478
pISSN - 0263-323X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6478.2015.00705.x
Subject(s) - cognitive reframing , deliberation , ideology , common sense , sociology , law and economics , element (criminal law) , politics , government (linguistics) , political science , law , public administration , public relations , social psychology , psychology , linguistics , philosophy
This article reviews the last five years of coalition government policy making in relation to occupational health and safety law. It shows that the most significant and influential element of this activity has been the reframing of the wider regulatory system according to a dominant ideological paradigm of ‘common‐sense’ regulation, to the detriment of other considerations and interests. A social constructionist framework assists in setting out the means through which this new ‘symbolic universe’ of regulatory possibility has been constructed and promulgated within the policymaking arena. In particular, it identifies the key role played by processes of deliberative regulatory engagement in the construction and development of this approach, and identifies the inherent vulnerability of ‘thin’ forms of deliberation to this sort of application.