ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an orientation to some ideas about risk from the fields of science and technology studies and ethics. It describes some federal activities that give priority to research on risk that incorporates approaches from social sciences and ethics. The contest involves who legitimately speaks about risk and how. The chapter identifies some positions in this contest, and how the social sciences and the area of ethics sometimes called practical or applied ethics are beginning to be recognized as legitimate actors. One important recognition for examining risk issues is the recognition that any talk about them involves normative matters. When risk assessors refuse to incorporate the positions different groups take about what is risky, the conclusions of risk assessments may be irrelevant, invalidated, or harmful. The field of science and technology studies is concerned to examine how knowledge gets legitimated and socially appropriated.
