Brian Wynne
Encyclopedia
Brian Wynne is Professor of Science Studies and Research Director of the Centre for the Study of Environmental Change (CSEC) at the University of Lancaster. His education includes MA (Natural Sciences, Cambridge 1968), PhD (Materials Science, Cambridge 1971), MPhil (Sociology of Science, Edinburgh 1977). His work has covered technology and risk assessment, public risk perceptions, and public understanding of science, focusing on the relations between expert and lay knowledge and policy decision-making. He was an Inaugural Member of the Management Board and Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency
, (EEA), (1994-2000) and a Special Adviser to the House of Lords
Science and Technology Select Committee Inquiry into Science and Society, (March 2000). He is also a member of the London Royal Society's Committee on Science in Society.
, who had been subjected to administrative restrictions due to radioactive contamination, allegedly caused by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl
in 1986. The sheep farmers suffered economical losses, and it turned out that the source of radioactivity was actually the Sellafield
nuclear reprocessing complex, thus the experts who were responsible for the duration of the restrictions, were mistaken. This particular case illustrates how the exercise of scientific interpretation controlled the farmers and furthermore how scientific knowledge neglects specialist lay knowledges, as it defines lay resistances as based on ignorance or irrationality. It also indicates the social basis of scientific knowledge and its public credibility. This is a development in the field of the Risk Society
, as developed by Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens (Links needed).
European Environment Agency
European Environment Agency is an agency of the European Union. Its task is to provide sound, independent information on the environment. It is a major information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public...
, (EEA), (1994-2000) and a Special Adviser to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
Science and Technology Select Committee Inquiry into Science and Society, (March 2000). He is also a member of the London Royal Society's Committee on Science in Society.
Expert and lay knowledge
In Wynne's contribution May the Sheep Safely Graze? to the book Risk, Environment and Modernity (1996), he elaborates on the responses of sheep farmers in CumbriaCumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, who had been subjected to administrative restrictions due to radioactive contamination, allegedly caused by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl
Chernobyl
Chernobyl or Chornobyl is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, in Kiev Oblast, near the border with Belarus. The city had been the administrative centre of the Chernobyl Raion since 1932....
in 1986. The sheep farmers suffered economical losses, and it turned out that the source of radioactivity was actually the Sellafield
Sellafield
Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...
nuclear reprocessing complex, thus the experts who were responsible for the duration of the restrictions, were mistaken. This particular case illustrates how the exercise of scientific interpretation controlled the farmers and furthermore how scientific knowledge neglects specialist lay knowledges, as it defines lay resistances as based on ignorance or irrationality. It also indicates the social basis of scientific knowledge and its public credibility. This is a development in the field of the Risk Society
Risk society
"Risk society" is a term that emerged during the 1990s to describe the manner in which modern society organises in response to risk. The term is closely associated with several key writers on modernity, in particular Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck...
, as developed by Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens (Links needed).