Deck 10: The Rationality of Risk

Question 1

The rationalization of risk has not been complete. In fact, according to the 2013 Harris Poll, ______% of American adults believe that God can perform miracles?

A) 72%
B) 26%
C) 14%
D) 50%

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which system is tightly "coupled"?

A) Nuclear power plant
B) University
C) Mining operation
D) Road transport

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Ulrich Beck argues that the driving force behind the risk society can be characterized by which of the following statements?

A) I am hungry.
B) I am angry.
C) I am lonely.
D) I am afraid.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Horizontal knowledge gaps are:

A) gaps between experts and other experts.
B) gaps between experts and non experts.
C) gaps between professors and students.
D) gaps between parents and children.

Question 5

The chapter concludes by saying that in order to construct a dialogic rationality of risk, we need to cultivate:

A) trust.
B) truth.
C) theory.
D) trees.

Question 6

Kai Erikson calls human induced disasters a "new species of trouble" because they have which of the following features:

A) The crumbling of trust and the shredding of community ties
B) A chronic social trauma that victims only slowly recover from
C) A pervasive sense of dread about what the future brings
D) All of the above

Question 7

According to the textbook, what do we need more of in order to renew faith in science?

A) Dialogue
B) Universal and permanent truths
C) Trust in experts
D) Certainty

Question 8

Which of the following arguments contradicts the risk society theory?

A) Environmental bads are not equally distributed.
B) In poor countries, "I am hungry" is a driving force of environmental concerns.
C) The wealthy elite are able to better protect themselves from environmental problems.
D) All of the above.

Question 9

How many people were killed by Mad Cow Disease versus car accidents?

A) About 200 vs. 34,000
B) About 20,000 vs. 25,000
C) About 2,000 vs. 30,000
D) About 20 vs. 30,000

Question 10

What, according to Kai Erikson, describes a "city of comrades"?

A) When community struggles to reunite post-disaster
B) When there is renewed social solidarity that results after a disaster has subsided
C) When the community itself feels betrayed
D) When community becomes soiled and ruined

Question 11

How does chapter distinguishes between the terms risk and risky?

A) Risk means our sense of what we should act on; risky is what we can technologically, organizationally, and politically enact.
B) Risk means the material side of worries and fears; risky is the ideal side of our worries and desires.
C) Risk means our sense of what we should worry about, and how much; risky means the the material side of worries and desires.
D) All of the above.

Question 12

What is dialogic rationality?

A) A less arrogant rationality that can be argued with, that respects the reasoning of others, and considers other ideas
B) Slack or buffer or give between two items
C) An equality of risk
D) "Self-confrontation" in which we collectively reflect on the meanings of modernity, science, and rationality

Question 13

What was the controversial element of the "Pusztai affair" in Britain?

A) Pusztai documented a deadly flood in West Virginia coal country.
B) Pusztai traced an alarming rate of "normal accidents" in nuclear plant functions.
C) Pusztai found that rats fed on GMO potatoes developed shrunken internal organs, had their immune system depressed, and grew more slowly.
D) Pusztai found that the death rates of Mad Cow disease were higher than previously expected.

Question 14

Because of its universalist and objectivist claim that it represents the perspective of the entire demos, via the sanctity of the methods of science, rationalism appears?

A) democratic.
B) risky.
C) incommensurable.
D) normal.

Question 15

What theoretical framework does the problem of contextuality challenge?

A) Functionalism
B) Rational choice
C) Tautology
D) Dialogic rationality

Question 16

The text offers which of the following as a key example of a "linear system," wherein components are spread out, easy to segregate, substitutable, and have little feedback between each other?

A) Nuclear power
B) Automobile transportation
C) Religiosity and miracles
D) The valuation of national parks

Question 17

Components of a complex system are best characterized by which of the following attributes?

A) Close together
B) Hard to pull apart or substitute
C) Have a lot of feedback
D) All of the above

Question 18

The view of the Hima, a Ugandan pastoral people, concerning women and cattle is an example of:

A) how people tend to accept risks that reinforce social solidarity of their institutions.
B) how those in developing countries reject risks that those that do not aid in their forward progress.
C) how individuals make choices based on contextuality.
D) how certainty is socially constructed.

Question 19

The idea that it is people that make up society just as much as larger social structures and patterns do is best summed up by which of the following terms?

A) Functionalism
B) Rational choice
C) Tautology
D) Dialogic rationality

Question 20

Which of the following is a problem with using contingent valuation to determine risk?

A) It assumes that people can put prices on everything.
B) It follows the full consequences of a risk through an economy.
C) It understands how much risk of externalized.
D) It accepts higher risk levels than "normal."

Question 21

What does Ulrich Beck mean by a "risk society?

A) A society of democratic ecological dialogue
B) A society that accepts the rational choices presented to them
C) A society of trust in experts
D) A society of fear where we do not have the confidence we once enjoyed and are constantly in jeopardy of environmental bads

Question 22

Rational choice theory's premise is that the individual is apurposeful, calculating actor, seeking to maximize her orhis interests.

Question 23

In Britain, the calculated risk of getting into an automobileaccident while driving is greater than the material risk ofgetting mad cow disease from eating a hamburger.

Question 24

Food disparagement statutes in 13 states protect citizens who publicly question the safety of food products.

Question 25

The USDA always encourages scientific research that tests the safety of corporate activities in food and agriculture.

Question 26

Rational risk assessment suggests that we should compareour best knowledge about the rates and probabilities ofhazards and choose the least dangerous alternative.

Question 27

Contingent valuation is a way to assess cultural values bydetermining how much people are willing to pay forthings.

Question 28

One assumption of rational risk assessment is that the "facts" relevant to an issue of risk cannot be known.

Question 29

The author lists at least two problems with rational risk assessment, one is the problems of tautology and the other is a problem of incommensurability. Define and explain both of these problems?

Question 30

What are SLAPP suits, and what example of these does the text give?

Question 31

Ulrich Beck sees "reflexive modernization" as a sign of hope. What is "reflexive modernization?

Question 32

What are vertical and horizontal knowledge gaps?

Question 33

Explain Kai Erikson's theory about the Salem witch trials. How did they reinforce group cohesion and group boundaries? How is this situation similar to the threat of terrorism today?

Question 34

Why does the chapter suggest that it would be easier for Oprah to give up eating hamburgers than to give up driving cars?

Question 35

What do you think of Beck's belief that environmentalism is the defining issue of our time? Why does he believe this? Do you agree or disagree? What does the chapter say about the enduring primacy of economic conflicts?

Question 36

Explain what Perrow means when he says that a technological system is either linear or complex and either loosely or tightly coupled. Give examples?

Question 37

Matching: Please match the term, thinker, and/or text with its complement or correspondent , by placing the appropriate identification letter/number in the space provided. (You may use answers more than once.)
-____ Loosely/tightly coupled technology

A) Charles Perrow
B) Ulrich Beck
C) Kai Erickson
D) Rational risk assessment
E) Oprah Winfrey
F) British scientist, Arpad Pusztai
G) European Union
H) Risk
I) Risky

Question 38

Matching: Please match the term, thinker, and/or text with its complement or correspondent , by placing the appropriate identification letter/number in the space provided. (You may use answers more than once.)
-____ Risk society

A) Charles Perrow
B) Ulrich Beck
C) Kai Erickson
D) Rational risk assessment
E) Oprah Winfrey
F) British scientist, Arpad Pusztai
G) European Union
H) Risk
I) Risky

Question 39

Matching: Please match the term, thinker, and/or text with its complement or correspondent , by placing the appropriate identification letter/number in the space provided. (You may use answers more than once.)
-____ Wayward Puritans

A) Charles Perrow
B) Ulrich Beck
C) Kai Erickson
D) Rational risk assessment
E) Oprah Winfrey
F) British scientist, Arpad Pusztai
G) European Union
H) Risk
I) Risky

Question 40

Matching: Please match the term, thinker, and/or text with its complement or correspondent , by placing the appropriate identification letter/number in the space provided. (You may use answers more than once.)
-____ Contingent valuation

A) Charles Perrow
B) Ulrich Beck
C) Kai Erickson
D) Rational risk assessment
E) Oprah Winfrey
F) British scientist, Arpad Pusztai
G) European Union
H) Risk
I) Risky

Question 41

Matching: Please match the term, thinker, and/or text with its complement or correspondent , by placing the appropriate identification letter/number in the space provided. (You may use answers more than once.)
-____ Mad cow disease

A) Charles Perrow
B) Ulrich Beck
C) Kai Erickson
D) Rational risk assessment
E) Oprah Winfrey
F) British scientist, Arpad Pusztai
G) European Union
H) Risk
I) Risky

Question 42

Matching: Please match the term, thinker, and/or text with its complement or correspondent , by placing the appropriate identification letter/number in the space provided. (You may use answers more than once.)
-____ GMO potatoes

A) Charles Perrow
B) Ulrich Beck
C) Kai Erickson
D) Rational risk assessment
E) Oprah Winfrey
F) British scientist, Arpad Pusztai
G) European Union
H) Risk
I) Risky

Question 43

Matching: Please match the term, thinker, and/or text with its complement or correspondent , by placing the appropriate identification letter/number in the space provided. (You may use answers more than once.)
-____ GMO-free zone

A) Charles Perrow
B) Ulrich Beck
C) Kai Erickson
D) Rational risk assessment
E) Oprah Winfrey
F) British scientist, Arpad Pusztai
G) European Union
H) Risk
I) Risky

Question 44

Matching: Please match the term, thinker, and/or text with its complement or correspondent , by placing the appropriate identification letter/number in the space provided. (You may use answers more than once.)
-____ Ideal

A) Charles Perrow
B) Ulrich Beck
C) Kai Erickson
D) Rational risk assessment
E) Oprah Winfrey
F) British scientist, Arpad Pusztai
G) European Union
H) Risk
I) Risky

Question 45

Matching: Please match the term, thinker, and/or text with its complement or correspondent , by placing the appropriate identification letter/number in the space provided. (You may use answers more than once.)
-____ Material

A) Charles Perrow
B) Ulrich Beck
C) Kai Erickson
D) Rational risk assessment
E) Oprah Winfrey
F) British scientist, Arpad Pusztai
G) European Union
H) Risk
I) Risky