NORMAL ACCIDENTS: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON MODERN DISASTER

Catalog description

In today's world, the wide spread diffusion of high risk technologies interact with weak regulation, institutional corruption, psycho-social dynamics and chance events to render catastrophic accidents normal. Through case studies of disasters and readings in organizational behavior, this course explores the sociological elements underlying human-made catastrophes. Case studies will include airplane and maritime disasters, nuclear power plant accidents, contamination of water and food supplies.