Risk perceptions and environmental mobilization: Tracking the transformation of collective actions in a radiation contamination incident in Taiwan (China)

Variation in public responses to the environmental hazards associated with humanly produced disaster agents revealed in the environmental sociology literature makes further investigation of theoretical gaps in the existing literature critical. These gaps include examination of micro and macro level factors that shape people's risk experiences of environmental insults, as well as their responses to such environmental grievances. A more integrative framework is essential in order to account for variation in responses and to enhance our understanding of social experiences of risk and their interplay with the broader social, cultural and institutional contexts.; This dissertation employs such an integrated framework—social amplification of risk—to study the incident of Cobalt-60 radioactive contamination in residences in Taiwan. Here, local collective actions were only briefly resident-driven and the broader movement was subsequently dominated by activists who had never been directly impacted. The author utilizes a qualitative case study that draws upon in-depth interviews and analysis of documentary data to investigate the Taiwan case. The endeavor is to examine the interplay of various factors, such as social stigma and trust (or mistrust) of the risk management institutions, with the experience of risks and risk-related behaviors, as well as their influence in shaping the emergence of the collective activism in response to the chronic residential radiation contamination.; The accounts of varied risks perceived by a number of key actors are described. Collective actions on the local and national levels and their transformations are discussed. In addition, the analysis examines how individuals, environmental activists, and governmental institutions select certain risk information, communicate with others and subsequently shape the public's ongoing interpretation and collective responses towards the event. Social stigma and contextual factors, the characteristics of the contamination agent, and differential remedy policies are presented to explain why, while people experience similar risk concerns, some have not taken collective actions. Findings from this study serve to fill gaps in the current environmental sociology literature and especially to account for why in some settings, such as the Taiwanese case, grassroots activism is at best limited and short-lived.