Risk Perception: Dependency Dimension. V. N. Malakhovsky, Dept. Toxicol. and Radiobiol., Military-Medical Academy, ul. Savushkina, 17, ap. 76, St.Petersburg, 197183, Russia, telephone (home) (812) 430 74 55, e-mail vladimir@NS2691.spb.edu
C. Starr found that the established level of a technological risk is the result of process of benefit-cost (and utility-risk) trade-off, so it represent the risk, perceived as acceptable. Acceptable levels of various technological risks formed a steeply growing function of average personal (social) benefits, allowing monetary estimate. This opened the objective method for risk perception comparisons. Acceptable risk directly relates to its voluntariness and advertising and inversely relates to the number of people involved. Starr considered activity as voluntary if the involved individuals spent money on it, and as involuntary if the activity was the source of his income, which is rather disputable.
A number of involuntary risks are not connected with any activity of the individuals, e.g., involved in an accident or another emergency. Involved individuals could claim compensation and so became dependent on risk status. If some bureaucracy body (e.g. government agency, voluntary society or committee of scientific experts) is to confer the risk status needed for compensations, it will produce the dependent individuals. The bureaucracy body would be dependent too, as to some extent all accident-associated industry. The monetary sum (measure) of dependency is not the societal benefit and is not directly connected with the positive activity of the involved. So the axis of risk dependency dimension prolongs the benefit axis in the range of negative values. The risk status benefit could include also non-monetary and moral component. Risk status dependency contributes to amplification of risk perception in unconscious, incognitive way, as attitudes and emotions. That's why direct questioning couldn't discover it.
Risk status dependency culture is the in-depth cause of the present ecological risk chronic epidemics in Russia. Other examples could be groups of refugee status seekers, emergency survivors, healthcare recipients, etc. Risk management applications of the concept directed on forming a risk conscious society.
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