Cultural theory and risk perception: Validity and utility explored in the French context

Explaining perceived risk can draw upon factors related to the person (e.g. demographics, personality, social/professional status, political orientation), or to the risk source (e.g. hearth impacts, economic effects). According to Cultural Theory risk perceptions are culturally biased. Wildavsky and Dake operationalised the Cultural Theory with questionnaire scales and found that resulting 'cultural profiles' best predict individual differences in risk perception. A French version of their questionnaire was inserted into a representative national risk opinion survey of May 1993; 1022 adults (age 18 and over) were interviewed. Major results are presented. The four cultural scales (hierarchy, egalitarianism, fatalism and individualism) show high correlations with political orientation as expected, but also with, for example, age, gender, income and education level. However, scale relationships to perceptions of risk situations (twenty, mainly technological) are not as strong as expected. Sjoberg found similar results in Sweden. The utility of the existing operationalisation of Cultural Theory for risk perception analysis is discussed.