Papers by Barbara Harthorn
Praeger eBooks, 2003
Examines the diverse uses and abuses of risk by social actors across a wide range of cultural, et... more Examines the diverse uses and abuses of risk by social actors across a wide range of cultural, ethnic, and geographical locales. The introductory chapter by the two co-editors analyzes and contextualizes current scholarly debates on the social, cultural, and political ...
Routledge eBooks, Jun 13, 2017
Journal of Political Ecology, Dec 1, 1999
Thiemping in northern Senegal (Magistro). One can't help wondering what these communities were do... more Thiemping in northern Senegal (Magistro). One can't help wondering what these communities were doing before when certain machine technologies were not available, or certain geopolitical limits were not yet in place. The "Ecology of Practice" approach goes beyond the theoretical gains of historical materialism and current anxieties about "subjectivity" by directly relating analysis in a chronological discussion that necessarily draws on outward as well as internal linkages whether they be economic, socio-cultural or purely political. If there is a danger there, it may be the temptation to become overly deterministic in following material causes for human's decision making, thus reducing the scope of the analysis and returning to what is essentially a transactional interpretation. The other danger in this attractive theoretical frontier is the danger to succumb to the mystification of one's own writing or mystification of the reader through over use of agronomic terms and concepts. In fact, this is a challenge to the approach that is significant. It implies that anthropologists take to heart the great need for their participation in examining problems of ecology without duplicating or rediscovering principles and assumptions that are the grist of the agronomist's mill. This is far more difficult than one would initially expect. It remains a just challenge in that agronomists or other scientists in related fields (hydraulic specialists, plant breeders, horticulturalists) depend on the social sciences to facilitate their entry past the farm gate; and to understand what happens after harvest. It is important therefore, that anthropologists concerned with ecology work closely with those of relevant sciences, take advantage of their literature, and, doing what we do best; understand their culture. An example might be that the fact that a small farm produces less volume; that it requires less labor is not a discovery in the world of the agronomist. What the agronomist depends on us to discover is the how and why of human behavior in that set of parameters. This does not take us away from the Ecology of Practice but rather requires us to look more profoundly at the paradigm and work harder at its application. A "sociocentric approach to ecology" should bring us to better understandings of how "individual agency (practice, politics) links the exploitation of resources to technologies that are created and used for the realization of culturally important projects" (p. 2), as Nyerges points out in the introduction. This volume is in fact a valuable contribution to the important project of better analysis of humankind's relationship to nature and the problem of culture.
This report is part of a project that has received funding by the European Union's Horizon 2020 r... more This report is part of a project that has received funding by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 640715. The content of this report reflects only the authors' view. The Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
Routledge eBooks, Jul 14, 2017
Energy Research & Social Science, 2018
Changes to the material and social systems that underpin energy infrastructures are inextricably ... more Changes to the material and social systems that underpin energy infrastructures are inextricably linked to energy justice concerns, and the timeframes of those changes significantly affect their outcomes. Temporal aspects of energy initiatives and their impacts are thus an important site for examining emergent public views on new energy proposals, inequality, and energy justice. We propose urgency is a particularly rich concept through which to study (i) the justice and socioenvironmental implications of energy systems and technological change and (ii) how people make sense of contested energy timeframes. Here, we present findings from a series of public deliberation workshops held in the United States and United Kingdom to discuss projected impacts of shale oil and gas extraction by hydraulic fracturing. We encountered critical similarities across sites, as in widespread public resistance to issue framings that foreground urgency-based claims in support of their objectives. Participants assessed energy initiatives with particular reference to temporality and urgency, and we argue these views raise justice concerns regarding distribution, the creation of environmental inequalities, public participation, and recognition. We also suggest a focus on urgency provides fresh perspectives on justice issues surrounding the speed and direction of technological development in general and of energy transitions in particular.
Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society
The Social Life of Nanotechnology, 2012
Foreword John Seely Brown. Acknowledgments. 1. Introduction: The Social Scientific View Of Nanote... more Foreword John Seely Brown. Acknowledgments. 1. Introduction: The Social Scientific View Of Nanotechnologies Barbara Herr Harthorn and John W. Mohr Part I: Constructing the Field of Nanotechnology: The Social Origins of Nanotechnology 2. Science That Pays for Itself: Nanotechnology and the Discourse of Science Policy Reform Matthew N. Eisler 3. When Space Travel And Nanotechology Met at the Fountains of Paradise W. Patrick McCray 4. Conferences and the Emergence of Nanoscience Cyrus C. M. Mody Part II: Controlling the Field: The Role of Public Policies, Market Systems, Scientific Labor, and Globalization in Nanotechnology 5. Is Nanoscale Collaboration Meeting Nanotechnology's Social Challenge? A Call for Nano-Normalcy Christopher Newfield 6. Working for Next to Nothing: Labor in the Global Nanoscientific Community Mikael Johansson 7. Nanotechnology as Industrial Policy: China and the United States Richard P. Appelbaum, Cong Cao, Rachel Parker and Yasuyuki Motoyama 8. The Chinese Century? China's Move Towards Indigenous Innovation: Some Policy Implications Rachel Parker and Richard P. Appelbaum Part III: Contesting the Field: Knowledge, Power, and Reflexivity in the Construction of Nanotechnology 9. Nanotechnologies and Upstream Public Engagement: Dilemmas, Debates, and Prospects? Adam Corner and Nick Pidgeon 10. Different Uses, Different Responses: Exploring Emergent Cultural Values Through Public Deliberation Jennifer Rogers-Brown, Christine Shearer, Barbara Herr Harthorn and Tyronne Martin 11. News Media Frame Novel Technologies in a Familiar Way: Nanotechnology, Applications, and Progress Erica Lively, Meredith Conroy, David A. Weaver, and Bruce Bimber 12. Public Responses to Nanotechnology: Risks to the Social Fabric? William R. Freudenburg and Mary B. Collins
The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, 2017
Page 2 Executive summary Page 2-4 Literature Review Pages 5-9 Methods Pages 10-13 Management Plan... more Page 2 Executive summary Page 2-4 Literature Review Pages 5-9 Methods Pages 10-13 Management Plan Pages 14-16 Deliverables Page 17 Milestones Page 18 Budget & Budget justification Page 19-20 References cited Pages 21-23 2009 Current Practices and Environmental Risks of Nanomaterials in Industry
Small, Oct 2, 2012
Agency in 2008 with the mission to study the impact of nanotechnology on the environment, includi... more Agency in 2008 with the mission to study the impact of nanotechnology on the environment, including the identifi cation of hazard and exposure scenarios that take into consideration the unique physicochemical properties of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). Since its inception, the Center has made great progress in assembling a multidisciplinary team to develop the scientifi c underpinnings, research, knowledge acquisition, education and outreach that is required for assessing the safe implementation of nanotechnology in the environment. In this essay, the development of the infrastructure, protocols, and decision-making tools that are required to effectively integrate complementary scientifi c disciplines allowing knowledge gathering in a complex study area that goes beyond the traditional safety and risk assessment protocols of the 20th century is outlined. UC CEIN's streamlined approach, premised on predictive hazard and exposure assessment methods, high-throughput discovery platforms and environmental decision-making tools that consider a wide range of nano/bio interfaces in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, demonstrates the implementation of a 21st-century approach to the safe implementation of nanotechnology in the environment.
Research in Social Problems and Public Policy, 2013
Abstract Research has found a subgroup of conservative white males have lower perceptions of risk... more Abstract Research has found a subgroup of conservative white males have lower perceptions of risk across a variety of environmental and health hazards. Less research has looked at the views of these “low risk” individuals in group interactions. Through qualitative analysis of a technology deliberation, we note that white men expressing low risk views regarding technologies for energy and the environment also often express high social risks around potential loss of control. We argue these risk perceptions reflect identification with corporate concerns, usually framed in opposition to government and mirroring arguments made by conservative organizations. We situate these views within the broader cultural struggle over who has the power to name and address risks.
Springer Handbook of Nanotechnology, 2017
This chapter provides an overview of the past decade of research on the societal aspects and impl... more This chapter provides an overview of the past decade of research on the societal aspects and implications of nanotechnology in the USA. It starts by providing key terms and definitions and then outlines the contours of the social, ethical, governance, and participatory research in the USA, with key examples of nanoELSI work. The chapter argues that all these elements are different facets of responsible development and responsible innovation, and that the National Nanotechnology Initiative's investment in nanoELSI research, education and outreach has provided an unprecedented advance in scholarship and policy. The chapter proposes that nanoELSI has in some respects developed new forms of hybrid social science, ethics, historical, legal, sociological, psychological interdisciplinarity in addition to the interdisciplinary collaborations that form the basis of much nanoscale science and engineering innovation. Integration of the societal and the technical is an ongoing challenge, and the chapter cites some notable advances in this area as well.
This article outlines the motivation for a spatial approach as a novel focus for cross-disciplina... more This article outlines the motivation for a spatial approach as a novel focus for cross-disciplinary interaction and research in the social and behavioral sciences. The authors review the emerging interest in space and place in the recent social science literature and develop a vision for a spa-tially integrated social science. This vision provides the conceptual basis for a program of six activities designed to promote a spatial perspective: learning resources, workshops, best-practice examples, place-based search, software tools, and a virtual community. The six pro-grams will be informed by advances in the methods, technologies, and principles underlying spatial information science. The analysis of space and place has become an increasingly pivotal component of social science research in the past two decades. In part, this can be attributed to the transformation of social space around the globe, accompanied by shifts of varying degrees of magnitude in social science conceptualizin...
This chapter provides an overview of the past decade of research on the societal aspects and impl... more This chapter provides an overview of the past decade of research on the societal aspects and implications of nanotechnology in the USA. It starts by providing key terms and definitions and then outlines the contours of the social, ethical, governance, and participatory research in the USA, with key examples of nanoELSI work. The chapter argues that all these elements are different facets of responsible development and responsible innovation, and that the National Nanotechnology Initiative's investment in nanoELSI research, education and outreach has provided an unprecedented advance in scholarship and policy. The chapter proposes that nanoELSI has in some respects developed new forms of hybrid social science, ethics, historical, legal, sociological, psychological interdisciplinarity in addition to the interdisciplinary collaborations that form the basis of much nanoscale science and engineering innovation. Integration of the societal and the technical is an ongoing challenge, an...
American Ethnologist, 2020
Understanding emerging trends in public perceptions of nanomaterials is critically important for ... more Understanding emerging trends in public perceptions of nanomaterials is critically important for those who regulate risks. A number of surveys have explored public perceptions of their risks and benefits. In this paper we meta-analyse these surveys to assess the extent to which the following four hypotheses derived from previous studies of new technologies might be said to be valid for nanotechnologies: risk aversion will prevail over benefit appreciation; an increase in knowledge will not result in reduced aversion to risks; judgements will be malleable and subject to persuasion given risk-centric information; and contextual, psychometric and attitudinal predictors of perceived risk from prior studies can help anticipate future perceptions of nanotechnologies. We find that half the public has at least some familiarity with nanotechnology, and those who perceive greater benefits outnumber those who perceive greater risks by 3 to 1. However, a large minority of those surveyed (44%) i...
The delocalization aspects of globalization are often cited as the most socially and economically... more The delocalization aspects of globalization are often cited as the most socially and economically destructive of its forces. In this paper, I want to discuss the possibilities for ethnography to relocalize the global. In particular, I argue that the assessment of risks attached to numerous aspects of global enterprises pleads for the kind of recontextualization that ethnography can provide through tracing the contours of local and translocal suffering and illness on the one hand and mobilization of agency and resistance on the other. My discussion will touch down on the SARS epidemic and the health of transnational immigrant workers in the California agricultural industry. They provide two different windows on the value of risk as a lens for examining the role of transnational forces in the social production of health inequality.
Ecology and Society
Social-ecological-systems (SES) scholars have called for increased elaboration of the social dime... more Social-ecological-systems (SES) scholars have called for increased elaboration of the social dimensions of natural systems. Although a strong body of research explaining adaptive or maladaptive resource use exists, the integration of knowledge related to values, perceptions, and behaviors is less developed. Perceptions are particularly useful when one seeks a broad-scale view of the judgments that people implicitly or more automatically make in relation to nature and/or how people might rapidly and intuitively interpret the meaning of ecological status and change. Environmental perceptions are also distinct from the longer tradition of direct elicitation of environmental values as related to reported environmental behavior; and from understanding of perceived environmental health risks. Empirically, we thus explore what an architecture of environmental perceptions might be. Our goal is to advance an SESrelevant focus on the qualities that people intuitively assign to air, water, and soil in general and in particular. Initial qualities were first developed using mental model interview responses, which were then converted to psychometric rating scales administered across two surveys: an initial pilot survey and a large-scale follow up survey. In the pilot study, four factors-resilience, tangibility, complexity and sensory-emerged as primary (n = 697). In our large-scale follow up (U.S. nationally representative sample, n = 2500) we retested the two strongest factors (tangibility and resilience) within specific ecotypes or contexts (forests, rivers, oceans, deserts, urban, and rural). Resilience emerged a particularly powerful component of environmental risk perception, a factor comprising four attributes: recovers easily from human impacts, self-cleaning with time, mostly pure, and easy to control. Results suggest a greater mandate for explicit understandings of the intuitive foundations of perceived environmental risk as might explain environments we regard as vulnerable or resilient, healthy or not.
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Papers by Barbara Harthorn