Knowledge, power and control : studying environmental regulation in late modernity

• At the same time as increased demands for standardization and control occur within the environmental field, regulation is being confronted by tendencies towards contextualization and fragmentation. This paper examines the question of how these seemingly opposing tendencies can be understood. The aim of this paper is to develop an approach for the study of risk regulation in contemporary society. Four elements are stressed as vital to consider when approaching environmental regulation: (i) the varying roles of science and expertise in regulation; (ii) the decisive role of intentional actors and regulatory organizations; (iii) the decisive but not exclusive role of the nation-state; and (iv) regulation as a process in which knowledge, risk and public concerns are constructed. In conclusion, the paper states that even if regulation is currently dispersed, the concepts of knowledge, power and control are still central to the study of environmental regulation.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Environmental regulation

risk

late modernity

science

Sociologi

Sociology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)