ABSTRACT
A paradox that currently appears to beset a satisfactory convergence between riskmanagement theory and practice is that the more cogently developed models of risk, for example, cultural theory and the social amplification risk framework (Chapter 2 gives detailed descriptions of these and other approaches to risk), may be theoretically elegant and able to explain many aspects of risk in society, yet struggle to provide a basis for practical prescriptions for risk-management applications in organizational and other settings. Conversely, the least conceptually satisfying models, bordering on the atheoretical in the technical approach, have had the greatest practical contributions to make to riskmanagement practices to date. One potential option might be to seek greater convergence between the theoretically sophisticated and more practically relevant approaches to risk and its management. This brief chapter seeks to determine whether such integration might be achievable and illustrates some possible frameworks.
