A risk society? Environmental hazards, risk and resilience in the later Middle Ages in Europe
A risk society? Environmental hazards, risk and resilience in the later Middle Ages in Europe
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DOI：
10.1007/s11069-013-0750-7
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发表时间：
2013-06
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
C. Gerrard;D. Petley
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
C. Gerrard;D. Petley
据说现代社会为了应对当代的危险而进行了重组，目的是改善其风险管理。这意味着前工业社会在某种程度上是根本不同的。在本文中，我们通过研究中世纪（这里定义为公元1000年至1550年）管理和减轻与环境危害相关的风险的方式来挑战这一假设。我们首先回顾了欧洲各地快速发生的灾害的许多案例研究，利用历史和考古证据以及对前工具时期结构破坏的建筑评估。在此基础上，论文的第二部分探讨了个人对风险的看法，强调了大众信仰的多样性和基督教在构建态度方面的核心重要性。抛开他们的宗教观点，我们发现中世纪的社区在面对严重的环境危害时并非束手无策。相反，我们认为，社会对这些威胁的反应往往是复杂的、经过深思熟虑的，有时甚至出人意料地现代。
Modern society is said to have restructured in reaction to contemporary hazards with the aim of improving its management of risk. This implies that pre-industrial societies were somehow fundamentally different. In this paper, we challenge that hypothesis by examining the ways in which risks associated with environmental hazards were managed and mitigated during the Middle Ages (defined here as the period from 1000 to 1550 AD). Beginning with a review of the many case studies of rapid onset disasters across Europe, we draw upon both historical and archaeological evidence and architectural assessments of structural damage for what is a pre-instrumental period. Building upon this, the second part of the paper explores individual outlooks on risk, emphasising the diversity of popular belief and the central importance of Christianity in framing attitudes. Despite their religious perspectives, we find that medieval communities were not helpless in the face of serious environmental hazards. We argue instead that the response of society to these threats was frequently complex, considered and, at times, surprisingly modern.