Risk, Media and Stigma: Understanding Public Challenges to Modern Science and Technology

This volume presents the current and most comprehensive examination of how and why stigmatization occurs and what the appropriate responses to it are. Stigma can attach to places, such as transport routes for nuclear waste; to products, such as contaminated food; and to technologies or even whole industries. More theoretical contributions look at the parts played by government and business, and the crucial role of the media in forming public attitudes. Stigma is not always misplaced, and the volume discusses the challenges involved in managing it, and reducing the vulnerability of important products, industries and institutions while providing the public with the information they need about risks.