The Social Amplification Of Risk And The Social Influence

In this advanced industrial societies, highly advanced technologies have brought many conveniences to people’s lives today. However, such conveniences come with the risk that hazardous consequences might arise from the use of these advanced techniques. These risks exist in everyday life. The technical risk has been understood and investigated from a scientific view, based on which public policies are made. The technical assessment of risk utilizes knowledge of technologies to evaluate probable hazardous consequences, which does not necessarily agree with the public’s perception of risks and usually fails to include societal choices regarding technology. The reason is that people’s perceptions of risks are comprehensive and influenced by personal experiences. The societal choices and public’s responses to risks are important aspects and should be included into risk analysis to make risk analysis more realistic and reliable.According to Google trends, 992 people died from aviation accidents worldwide while 1.24 million people died from motor vehicle accidents. Despite the numeral disparity, media pay 43 % more attentions towards aviation accidents than those caused by motor vehicles. A phenomenon exists that low-risk hazards gain more attention from the public than high-risk hazards. The former refers to as amplification of risks, while the latter is referred as reduction of risk.The broadcasting and management of technical risks have gained an increasingly interest. The lack of theoretical studies at the moment however limits our understanding. Most researchers focus on certain types of technical risks, and analyses a typical accident with theories that have obtained from foreign researchers. The results from such studies can hardly being applied to other cases. In addition, new forms of media have emerged which enables the public to express their opinions and engage in events on several platforms. This results in complex interactions between the public and media and consequently increases the complexity of risk analysis. It is crucial to systematically analyze the process of amplification or reduction of risk and the influence that the amplification of risk has on the society.Researchers of decision research of Clark University in 1988 introduced the concept of the social amplification of risk frame. This concept provides the theoretical base to understand risk and risk management in the modern society by incorporating multiple aspects including the technical assessment of risk, cultural influences, public responses and behavior. This concept also provides an overview of risks and helps to understand how different aspects interact with each other.This study analyzes the social amplification of risk frame and applies this concept to some cases to understand how risk is amplified or reduced at the present society, with an aim to provide insights and improve the risk management. First, this study summarized the theories underlying the social amplification of risk frame. Second, a discussion was carried out with regard to the mechanism of intensification of hazardous signals. The mechanism of signal intensification was discussed based on the perspectives of different entities such as governmental organizations that conduct technical assessment of risks, experts that evaluate message transmission, companies that develop related techniques, nonprofit organizations, ordinary individuals and their social relations, as well as representative individuals in occurrence of technical hazards, in order to understand the construction, transmission, and reception of risk signals. The political, economic, cultural and societal effects on the responses of different entities to the intensification of risk signals are also discussed. Third, this study analyzed the direct and indirect societal responses to the intensification of risk signals and following consequences of the responses.