Peculiarities of Risk Theories - Annotated Bibliography Example

In the 1960s, the risk was a neutral term that was essentially concerned with depicting probabilities of gains and losses (Kahn, 1962). In contemporary society, risk has been assimilated into several dashes of realism or social constructs to depict undesirable or negative outcomes. The term is today synonymous with danger, insecurity, disaster, and hazard. Indeed, the risk is defined as the likelihood of undesirable outcomes. An underlying assumption is that the traditional perspectives of risk were concerned with the actuarial tables of life insurers to analyze risk within the business perspective or risk.

  Actor-Network Theory Cordella, A. & Shaikh, M. (2006). From Epistemology to Ontology: Challenging the Constructed 'truth of 'ANT'. Working Paper Series 143, March 2006. London: London School of Economics and Political Science Summary: The paper introduces Actor-network Theory as a tool for interoperating phenomena rather than informing research. The central argument of the authors is that ANT has been forced to integrate the ontology of interpretivism, hence suppresses its own ontology.

Cordella and Shaikh show that, unlike ANT, interpretivism is by nature constructivist. It is further indicated that while interpretivism considers the interpreter of the risks or problems as capable of constructing reality in the mind, ANT underscores the assumption that reality can only be constructed through the interplay of more than one actor and that the reality emerges externally of an individual’s mind. Hong, J., Wenta, Y., Dora, M. & Xiumei, G. (2011). Risk analysis of GM crops technology in China: Modeling and governance, in F. Chan, D. Marinova, and R.S. Anderssen (ed).

19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Dec 12-16 2011, pp. 1687-1694. Perth, WA: The Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand Summary: Hong et al. introduce the actor-network theory as appropriate for exploring risk assessment and governance of new technology, such as genetically modified (GM) crops.