A sociological study on the technocratic structure of decision-making in the issue of global warming: from the perspective of science, technology and society

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This study examined the technocratic structure of environmental decision-making: only the government and government-related experts determine environmental policy and other people only execute the policy. In the case of "false labeling of recycled paper", there existed a dispute about whether 100% recycled copy paper is environmentally effective or not. Both groups justified their opinions, using scientific data. However, these data were too simplified and lacked contexts, so it could not function as a basis of further discussion. The disputes diverged from the realities of consumers, makers of paper products, and victims of indiscriminate forest logging. Another finding in this study is that it can be an obstacle for fruitful discussion, when the government overemphasize "consensus of experts from all over the world" and hesitate to mention uncertainty existing in the policy.