IsisCB Explore

Article ID: CBB001420112

Wireless Smart Meters and Public Acceptance: The Environment, Limited Choices, and Precautionary Politics (2014)

Hess, David J. (Author)
Coley, Jonathan S. (Author)

Public Understanding of Science
Volume: 23, no. 6
Issue: 6
Pages: 688-702

DOI: 10.1177/0963662512464936

Outside Links

WorldCat

Google Scholar

JSTOR

Academia.edu

Public policy Public opinion Public health Science and politics Environmental protection Risk 21st century California (U.S.) United States

Wireless smart meters (WSMs) promise numerous environmental benefits, but they have been installed without full consideration of public acceptance issues. Although societal-implications research and regulatory policy have focused on privacy, security, and accuracy issues, our research indicates that health concerns have played an important role in the public policy debates that have emerged in California. Regulatory bodies do not recognize non-thermal health effects for non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation, but both homeowners and counter-experts have contested the official assurances that WSMs pose no health risks. Similarities and differences with the existing social science literature on mobile phone masts are discussed, as are the broader political implications of framing an alternative policy based on an opt-out choice. The research suggests conditions under which health-oriented precautionary politics can be particularly effective, namely, if there is a mandatory technology, a network of counter-experts, and a broader context of democratic contestation.

...More

Citation URI

https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001420112/

Citations Indexes

Similar Citations

Article Egan, Michael; (2012)
Barry Commoner's Place in History (/isis/citation/CBB001320460/)

Book David Vogel; (2018)
California Greenin': How the Golden State Became an Environmental Leader (/isis/citation/CBB569183355/)

Article Brown, Mark B.; (2013)
Public University Funding and the Privatization of Politics (/isis/citation/CBB001320491/)

Article Hoffman, Karen; (2013)
Unheeded Science: Taking Precaution out of Toxic Water Pollutants Policy (/isis/citation/CBB001320662/)

Article Yli-Kauhaluoma, Sari; Hänninen, Hannu; (2014)
Tale Taming Radioactive Fears: Linking Nuclear Waste Disposal to the “Continuum of the Good” (/isis/citation/CBB001420065/)

Article Fang, Xiang; (2014)
Local People's Understanding of Risk from Civil Nuclear Power in the Chinese Context (/isis/citation/CBB001420063/)

Article Sugiman, Toshio; (2014)
Lessons Learned from the 2011 Debacle of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (/isis/citation/CBB001420061/)

Article Escobar, Maria Paula; Demeritt, David; (2014)
Flooding and the Framing of Risk in British Broadsheets, 1985--2010 (/isis/citation/CBB001420076/)

Book David Michaels; (2020)
The Triumph of Doubt: Dark Money and the Science of Deception. (/isis/citation/CBB693959552/)

Book Kate Nearpass Ogden; (2015)
Yosemite (/isis/citation/CBB091586116/)

Book Beattie, James; (2011)
Empire and Environmental Anxiety: Health, Science, Art, and Conservation in South Asia and Australasia, 1800--1920 (/isis/citation/CBB001320917/)

Book O'Doherty, Kieran; Einsiedel, Edna F; (2013)
Public Engagement and Emerging Technologies (/isis/citation/CBB001420078/)

Book Keller, Ann Campbell; (2009)
Science in Environmental Policy: The Politics of Objective Advice (/isis/citation/CBB001020398/)

Article Alagona, Peter S.; (2012)
A Sanctuary for Science: The Hastings Natural History Reservation and the Origins of the University of California's Natural Reserve System (/isis/citation/CBB001320033/)

Article Crowell, Amanda; Schunn, Christian; (2014)
Scientifically Literate Action: Key Barriers and Facilitators across Context and Content (/isis/citation/CBB001420114/)

Book Jared Huffman; Char Miller; (2018)
Where There's Smoke: The Environmental Science, Public Policy, and Politics of Marijuana (/isis/citation/CBB993928170/)

Article Kim, Hyomin; (2014)
Reconstructing the Public in Old and New Governance: A Korean Case of Nuclear Energy Policy (/isis/citation/CBB001420062/)

Article Asayama, Shinichiro; Ishii, Atsushi; (2014)
Reconstruction of the Boundary between Climate Science and Politics: The IPCC in the Japanese Mass Media, 1988--2007 (/isis/citation/CBB001420057/)

Book Stern, Alexandra; (2012)
Telling Genes: The Story of Genetic Counseling in America (/isis/citation/CBB001213529/)

Article Lisa M. PytlikZillig; Brittany Duncan; Sebastian Elbaum; Carrick Detweiler; (March 2018)
A Drone by Any Other Name: Purposes, End-User Trustworthiness, and Framing, but Not Terminology, Affect Public Support for Drones (/isis/citation/CBB947202008/)

Comments

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}