Risk communication and the social amplification of risk

Abstract

Risk communication is a novel concept in the scientific pursuit to understand and analyze risk related decisions and behavior in modem society. But the new term has only changed the focus of attention from a static description of what risk means for different communities to a dynamic analysis on how these communities exchange information about risk and adjust their behavior.The concept of social amplification of risk provides a framework for the analysis of communication as well as other social activities and constitutes a dynamic model which facilitates the systematic interpretation of empirical data and attempts to integrate the existing perspectives into a higher-order terminological model. The concept will certainly not encompass all perspectives,and it will not be capable of unifying different scientific camps.