Social Risks and Policy

Abstract

The last 20 years have seen a steady increase in normative debates regarding the issue of risk. While academic debates around risk in the disciplines of politics, social policy and philosophy focused initially quite heavily on new and emerging technologies, we recently witnessed a distinct shift from technological risks to what is called social risks. Social risks include a wide range of risks such as financial risks, risks connected to environmental change, or risks of social exclusion and marginalisation. What seems to be common to all of these risks is that the primary cause of the risk in question is not a lack of control over a particular technology or problematic uncertainty with regard to the mid- and long-term effects of a new technology, but instead the complex interplay of different social actors, as well as the policy landscape which structures these interactions. Social risks come with their own distinct set of issues. While technological risks are much more about what we know and what we can control, social risks are often strongly influenced by the regulatory landscape of a particular society. The existence, extend and gravity of social risks thus often can be directly linked to the (non-)existence of particular policy measures and governance instruments. The aim of this panel is to explore the issue of particular social risks in the context of adequate policy response. Questions which the panel hopes to address include: - What are the conceptual and empirical features of particular social risks and how should policy makers respond to them? - What normative principles should structure the acceptability of risk impositions from one set of actors onto others? - Which role do policy makers and experts play in the governance of social risks? - What kind of decision-making structures and processes (if any) can legitimise the imposition and creation of particular social risks. - Assuming that many social risks are somewhat unavoidable, how can we distinguish between objectionable and unobjectionable social risks? - What kind of social, political and economic institutions are required to protect vulnerable citizens against the potentially harmful effects of social risks?