Public Understanding of Fracking as Environmental Hazard in the US; part of symposium entitled PERCEPTION AND GOVERNANCE OF FRACKING RISKS: US AND EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES' convened by Pidgeon and Harthorn

Risk research across the social sciences has long examined the roots of controversy and the question: why are some new technologies vastly more controversial than others, and which reveal stark differences across social groups... [ view full abstract ]

Risk research across the social sciences has long examined the roots of controversy and the question: why are some new technologies vastly more controversial than others, and which reveal stark differences across social groups and ideological positions? Drawing from a nationally representative sample of US residents, this paper examines the perceived risk of fracking as compared to historically charged subjects of debate including biotechnology, climate change, handguns and nuclear power. We consider why and how the social unacceptability of fracking has emerged as closely linked to race, gender, political position, perceived environmental resilience and strongly held environmental values. We compare both demographic differences that predict these differences and the political positions that ‘erase’ some of them. We also explore the importance and acceptability of fracking and climate effects in the current period. Together these results provide both new insights into the nature of perceived risk and the likely escalation of debates about fracking in the coming decade.