Lay People and Perceptions of Global Risk

Summary, in English

The urgent need to be able to make detailed, exact and systematic comparisons which are possible to use in making general statements required not only the development of a methodology, but also methods standardised enough to assure statistical exactness. To achieve a base for detailed comparisons it was essential to combine the information from historical documents and observers´ reports with data from standardised counts and other efforts at systematic social, cultural and political map-making. The methodological work focussed on definitions of variables collected in national databases, the development of survey methodology and statistical methods for processing data. The expansion of computer technology meant a tremendous push forward for methods used in quantitative comparisons, both within and across nations. On the other hand, the narrow focus on statistics and methodology left aside theoretical questions about the ways in which figures could be understood in relation to cultural and social processes in favour of the exactness of statistical data.

• Author: Anna-Lisa Lindén
• Department/s: Sociology
• Publishing year: 1999
• Language: English
• Pages: 2-7
• Publication/Series: Mistra annual report
• Volume: 1999
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Mistra
• Topic: Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
• Keywords: environmental problems; sociology; environmental awareness; lay people; global risk; sociologi
• Status: Published
• Project: Utvägar
• Research group: Ways Ahead/Utvägar