Preface  ix

Part I. Citizens and Experts in the Risk Society  1

1. Democratic Prospects in an Age of Expertise: Confronting the Technocratic Challenge  5

2. Professional Knowledge and Citizen Participation: Rethinking Expertise  29

3. Environmental Crisis and the Technocratic Challenge: Expertise in the Risk Society  47

4. The Return of the Particular: Scientific Inquiry and Local Knowledge in Postpositivist Perspective  68

Part II. Environmental Politics in the Public Sphere: Technical versus Cultural Rationality  87

5. Science and Politics in Environmental Regulation: The Politicization of Expertise  89

6. Confronting Experts in the Public Sphere: The Environmental Movement as Cultural Politics  109

7. Not in My Backyard: Risk Assessment and the Politics of Cultural Rationality  124

Part III. Local Knowledge and Participatory Inquiry: Methodological Practices for Political Empowerment  143

8. Citizens as Local Experts: Popular Epidemiology and Participatory Resource Mapping  147

9. Community Inquiry and Local Knowledge: The Political and Methodological Foundations of Participatory Research  170

10. Ordinary Local Knowledge: From Potato Farming to Environmental Protection  193

Part IV. Discursive Institutions and Policy Epistemics  219

11. Discursive Institutions for Environmental Policy Making: Participatory Inquiry as Civic Discovery  221

12. The Environments of Argument: Deliberative Practices and Policy Epistemics  242

Appendixes  263

Notes  279

References  299

Index  329

“Using environmental policy as a context, he comments on the role of technology and scientific expertise and explores how capable citizens are of particiopating in important decisions, with a specific focus on the ‘risk society.’”—Jacqueline Vaughn Switzer, Perspectives on Political Science

“For the student of environmental science and its relationship to public policy, this book is invaluable for its broad bibliographic base and its careful and elegant theoretical reasoning.”—Helen Ingram, Environment

“The tension between professional expertise and democratic governance has become increasingly significant. Environmental politics in particular is a hotbed for citizens who challenge the experts. The book explores the strained interaction between technical environmental experts and citizen participation and proposes a new model of politics on participatory inquiry.”—Abstracts of Public Administration, Development, and Environment

“[A] well-crafted critique of expertise and neopositive social science. . . . Citizens, Experts, and the Environmental Studies synthesizes the most important work on lay ways of knowing and makes major theoretical contributions to the field. . . . This is an ideal book . . . .”—David N. Pellow, Contemporary Sociology

"[A] more fundamental and more scholarly critique of the role of science in environmental policy. . . . [R]eaders . . . are rewarded by learning a great deal about the subject through clear, well-written prose."

—Helen Ingram & Bryan McDonald, Natural Resources Journal

"[V]aluable. . . . Fischer’s books presents an excellent overview of the literature and case studies surrounding the interaction between experts and citizens in the environmental policy arena. . . . A volume then, not just for academics and policy-makers, but the Prime Minister as well."—Wendy Kenyon, Environmental Values

"[A] commendably ambitious book which does not simply make the conventional case for democracy but also explores wider issues of epistemology and the status of expertise. . . . [A]n important contribution to the contemporary discussion over citizenship and expertise."—Alan Irwin, Environment and Planning A

"The depth and rigor of the analyses presented by Fischer make this a very important book for anyone working within environmental science and policy, particularly those interested in the use and application of participatory research methods. . . .Fischer's book offers one of the most powerful calls for the increased usage of participatory inquiry in environmental policy that has been mustered to date."—Jason Evans, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics

“Using environmental policy as a context, he comments on the role of technology and scientific expertise and explores how capable citizens are of particiopating in important decisions, with a specific focus on the ‘risk society.’”—Jacqueline Vaughn Switzer, Perspectives on Political Science

“For the student of environmental science and its relationship to public policy, this book is invaluable for its broad bibliographic base and its careful and elegant theoretical reasoning.”—Helen Ingram, Environment

“The tension between professional expertise and democratic governance has become increasingly significant. Environmental politics in particular is a hotbed for citizens who challenge the experts. The book explores the strained interaction between technical environmental experts and citizen participation and proposes a new model of politics on participatory inquiry.”—Abstracts of Public Administration, Development, and Environment

“[A] well-crafted critique of expertise and neopositive social science. . . . Citizens, Experts, and the Environmental Studies synthesizes the most important work on lay ways of knowing and makes major theoretical contributions to the field. . . . This is an ideal book . . . .”—David N. Pellow, Contemporary Sociology

"[A] more fundamental and more scholarly critique of the role of science in environmental policy. . . . [R]eaders . . . are rewarded by learning a great deal about the subject through clear, well-written prose."

—Helen Ingram & Bryan McDonald, Natural Resources Journal

"[V]aluable. . . . Fischer’s books presents an excellent overview of the literature and case studies surrounding the interaction between experts and citizens in the environmental policy arena. . . . A volume then, not just for academics and policy-makers, but the Prime Minister as well."—Wendy Kenyon, Environmental Values

"[A] commendably ambitious book which does not simply make the conventional case for democracy but also explores wider issues of epistemology and the status of expertise. . . . [A]n important contribution to the contemporary discussion over citizenship and expertise."—Alan Irwin, Environment and Planning A

"The depth and rigor of the analyses presented by Fischer make this a very important book for anyone working within environmental science and policy, particularly those interested in the use and application of participatory research methods. . . .Fischer's book offers one of the most powerful calls for the increased usage of participatory inquiry in environmental policy that has been mustered to date."—Jason Evans, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics

“Citizens, Experts, and the Environment is real achievement. Building on his earlier work, Fischer presents a synthesis of a ‘postpositivist’ public policy approach and locates it clearly in contemporary environmental concerns and epistemology.”—Patsy Healey, Centre for Research in European Urban Environments, University of Newcastle

“This is a very carefully crafted work that asks critical questions rarely asked well in policy studies and utilizes literatures not typically read in policy analysis circles. In doing so, Fischer effectively challenges the dominant mode of organization in advanced industrial society. A masterfully-executed study.”—Timothy W. Luke, Virginia Polytechnic and State University at Blacksburg

“An impressive, interesting, and multifaceted work. Fischer provides the reader with a wide and fascinating range of theoretical and policy-oriented materials, weaves in real life problems of public participation (or lack thereof) from around the world, and effectively brings together important concerns.”—Alan Mandell, State University of New York, Empire State College

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