Theorizing Proximity Risk in a New Epidemic

• In Event: 240 - Section on Consumers and Consumption Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Section on Consumers and Consumption Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01. Places and Spaces of Consumption

Abstract

Amid reports of rampant peanut allergy in the U.S., especially among children, the Department of Transportation in 2010 proposed a regulatory measure on airlines to prohibit peanuts from their flights or to accommodate allergic passengers in some reasonable way. This proposal was met with much social debate about perceived risk, offending substances, and socio-physical interaction, as afflicted individuals are the ones who bear the burden of proof – arguing that simply being near the food, or near an individual with the food, places them in peril. Drawing on our analysis of public comments logged by both individuals and organizations in response to the proposed regulation, we examine the ways in which risk operates in discourse about public health and semi-public spaces. We highlight the ways in which modern health risks are positioned in relation to spatial and interactive risks. In so doing, we build on the risk society thesis through presenting our novel theoretical concept of ‘proximity risk’ as a way to reconceptualize relationships among public spaces, individual rights, liability, institutional responsibility, and scientific uncertainty in modern health risk discourse.

Authors

• Michaela DeSoucey, North Carolina State University

• Miranda R. Waggoner, Princeton University