ABSTRACT
This chapter explains a broad range of comparative studies of risk perception that, in various ways, probe the national, social and cultural variables of risk perception. The Psychometric research on risk perception and the efforts to replicate the early American studies provide a starting point for the discussion, which moves on to purposively comparative cross-national studies. It Studies on the influences of gender, ethnicity and social marginality on risk perception and the role of the media as reviewed and discussed. Use the psychometric paradigm to test the generality of results about the qualitative dimensions of risk perception. A key finding of risk perception for the three sets of risk issues varied according to four types of 'cultural world views': hierarchic, egalitarian, individualist and communitarian. The chapter gendered risk perception must be explored from perspectives emphasising 'the role of power, status, alienation, trust, and other sociopolitical factors'.
