Technology, technological risks, and the scientific methods for analyzing these have emerged as part of the development of contemporary societies and are increasingly apart of our everyday lives. From a historical and critical perspective, this article shows that both technological risks as well as their analysis derive from social processes and cannot be reduced to physical, chemical, and biological dimensions alone. These characteristics of technological risks and risk analysis make it necessary to link the field into the social sciences (e.g., history, anthropology, sociology, political science, and others) not only so that risk analyses may become broader in scope and have greater impact on risk management but also so that they can afford a better understanding of our technological society and how to intervene in it. It is concluded that the social sciences must take part in risk analysis, albeit this process of incorporation will entail certain challenges.
technological risks; risk analysis; social sciences