Roy Rickson | Griffith University (original) (raw)
Papers by Roy Rickson
The Journal of Environmental Education, Sep 1, 1972
Public attitudes about scientific information and thc role of the scientist in decision-making by... more Public attitudes about scientific information and thc role of the scientist in decision-making by community conflict • 12 II. Public attitudes about scientific information and the role of the scientist in decision-making by type of community conflict attitudes about scientific information and role in decision-making by community size •• scientists 17 IV. Public attitudes about scientific information and the role of the scientist by median years of education in each community 17 V. Public attitudes about scientific information and the role of the scientist in environmental decision-making by nercent in each community having at least a college degree 19 VI. Public attitudes about scientific inforJllation and the role of the scientist in environmental decision-making in each community by degree of personal concern in each community. 10 VII. Public attitudes about scientific information and the role of the scientist in environmental decision-making in each commw1ity by level of general participation in each community • 21 VIII. Public attitudes about scientific information and the role of the scientist in environmental decision-making by degree of citizen participat ion in environmental issues in each community • • • • ?J IX. A comparison of public and leader's attitudes about scientifi.c information and its use in environmental decision-making 23 x. A comparison of public and leader's attitudes about scientific information and its use in environmental decision-making by degree of community conflict A comparison of public and leader's attitudes about scientific information and its use in environmental decision-makinr, by size of community A comparison of public and leader's attitudes about scientific information and its use in environmental decision-making by degree of public participation in environmental issues 30 XIII. A comparison of public and leader's attitudes about scientific information and its use in enviornmenta1 decision-makinF, by degree of personal concern about environmental issues in a cOlllInunity .
Human Organization, Sep 1, 1976
Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Mar 1, 1990
The role of social impact assessment (SIA) in development decision making is a continual theoreti... more The role of social impact assessment (SIA) in development decision making is a continual theoretical and practical problem. Designed as a rational means for improving the intelligence of decision making by communities and government agencies, SIA is fundamental to development. SIA is a learning process contributing to the ability of communities and societies to learn and change. Grounding SIA in sound social theory helps to ensure independence of analysis from political judgments. However, SIA is most effective in structures that allow for political mobilization and should not be seen as a substitute for public participation. Two areas of sociological research (communities and organizations) are important to understanding how assessment data are diffused through a community and used by organizations and decision makers over time.
Impact Assessment, Dec 1, 1991
Change in industrial organizations is one of the elemental facets of change in modern industrial ... more Change in industrial organizations is one of the elemental facets of change in modern industrial societies because of their power and the immense volume of waste, solid and liquid that comes from industrial production. Change is a complex phenomena at all levels of analysis; industrial changes in water use are preceded by general societal changes as to priorities and values regarding economic production as opposed to living quality or a clean physical environment. Numerous agencies and organizations, private and public, now exist for the sole purpose of changing and regulating private and public water use. The conservation ethic has been part of society for some time but it gained power only in the last decade to the point where fundamental issues related to the organization of industrial production have come the fore. Any study of industrial change, therefore, has to consider the relationship that industrial organizations have to such groups. Under the model of development emphasizing economic growth per se, there was little if any pressure upon industries to consider the affect of their production on external factors like water quality. There is pressure and the pressure can be expected to continue. Water has always been one of man’s most vital resources and its importance has increased as industrial and agricultural development began to accelerate. Water is, at the same time, basic to human health and consumption, a basic ingredient of agriculture, of public recreation, and of course, a principal input to industrial production of all kinds. Industry uses more water as direct and indirect input to production than any other single source. As a result of its many uses and the mutual dependence of various groups upon water but with decidedly different goals and responsibilities, water use has become a focal point of controversy and change. Fundamental change is in the offering in terms of past and current debates about the relative responsibility of industry to clean public water after they use it in vast quantities and usually at rather low economic cost. Certainly, there are now differences among groups calling for changes in industrial water use and within industry itself as to what kinds of changes are to be made. There is, however, one constant factor. Industry and other groups, private and public, can no longer use water as they have in the past. This study is an attempt to further understand the process by which industrial organizations change the way they dispose of waste. Substantively, the relationship of organizational characteristics to rates of change in waste procedure is of interest. A general model of change is envisioned. The two major forces creating change in industrial organizations are the internal pressures within the organization that result from such factors as the complexity of its division of labor and production technology, and the kinds of pressure the organization faces as the result of powerful and aggressive regulatory agencies and other groups. Finally, the nature of dependence the firm has upon water affects change. To test hypotheses and find answers to questions, a comparative study of firms in different industrial categories w as made. Each category was selected because of its dependence upon water as a production input and by the importance of its operation for water pollution. Industries were studied at two points in time. In the first phase, the primary interest was in measuring the internal characteristics of the organization – how complex their structure was, the nature of their production technology, and the rates of change they had experiences in water use and production over the last ten years. The principal investigator then waited a year in order to measure the degree of change that the company experience in water use and waste procedures for that year. The nature of the relationship of the organization to outside pressures such as regulation was also measured in the second phase. The study, therefore, estimated changes in the company by production managers over a ten year period prior to contact and the changes they report for a single year. One-hundred and twenty-eight organizations were studied in the first phase. They were selected systematically but not randomly. It was, in other words, a purposive rather than a probability sample. One hundred and two organizations were chosen from the original 128 to be included n the second phase of the analysis. Industrial firms selected had high volumes of waste water, high bio-chemical oxygen demand because of their wastes, and produced substantial amounts of settleable and suspended solids. Twenty-eight of the firms studied could be categorized as producing food and kindred products. Eight industries produced paper and allied products. Twenty-nine of the companies could be classified as producers of chemicals or allied products. There were seven petroleum companies and thirty others that could be included among…
Journal of Mathematical Sociology, Jul 1, 1994
ABSTRACT Relationships between size and structural differentiation are basic points of analysis b... more ABSTRACT Relationships between size and structural differentiation are basic points of analysis by organizational sociologists. Building upon Blau's 1970 theory of size and structure in organizations, we present a thermodynamic model of these relationships that offers a new theoretical perspective on processes central to understanding organizations: structural stability, equilibrium and change. Our method is to adapt Blau's theory to thermodynamic principles that specify relationships between organizational parameters such as size and differentiation and thereby explain stability. The underlying question for analysis, we propose, is the nature of organizational stability rather than temporal direct or indirect relationships between organizational size and structural differentiation. Starting with Blau's formal theory of size and differentiation, we use the model to logically justify and clarify interpretations in his generalizations and the more recent work of others. We start with Blau's theory because of its focus on stability and equilibrium in organizations and derive stability conditions in organizational structures by using a thermodynamic theory of physical systems.
Society & Natural Resources, Mar 1, 1997
Indigenous people and their communities are often critical actors in resource development network... more Indigenous people and their communities are often critical actors in resource development networks dominated by large-scale private and public sector organizations. Development policies and projects have often been contentious in Australia because lands on which development has occurred or been proposed are frequently areas of spiritual and traditional significance to Aboriginal people. Conflicts over development are therefore intense, occur in the context of a history of social and political exploitation of Aboriginal people, and focus on issues of symbolic value, local autonomy, power, and participation in planning. This article applies social assessment models recognizing resource development as a power network to the analysis of the social impacts of development and focuses on the political involvement of local communities as basic to social justice. Research results suggest that social impact assessments should include assessments of community competency to participate in corporate resource development networks and should study the institutional basis of local participation.
Rural Sociology, Oct 22, 2009
Abstract Farmer dependence on large-scale organizations for inputs to production is an attribute ... more Abstract Farmer dependence on large-scale organizations for inputs to production is an attribute of Australian agriculture and has changed the character of farm work and how farmers see the future of agriculture. We discuss how these changes are related to farmer ...
Journal of The American Water Resources Association, Feb 1, 1985
Adoption, maintenance, and operation of pollution control technology by manufacturing firms is es... more Adoption, maintenance, and operation of pollution control technology by manufacturing firms is essential to effective water resource management. In this study of 102 industries, we find that company adoption of pollution control technology and practices is primarily associated with two factors: (1) the overall company capacity for innovation in its production technology; and (2) company relationships with state and federal pollution control agencies, local government officials and professionals. Managerial attitudes about pollution and government regulation are not associated with either pollution control or commercial innovation, but are seen as basic to industrygovernment relationships. The data suggest an important regulatory dilemma, the problem of regulating a large number of small companies with a low capacity for innovation, but which when taken together account for large volumes of toxic effluent.
The Australian and New Zealand journal of sociology, Aug 1, 1984
or indirectly utilized by present societies.&dquo; The point of his argument is that present ... more or indirectly utilized by present societies.&dquo; The point of his argument is that present industrial production systems and the social inequalities they create are at odds with improving or maintaining environmental quality and, at worst, are destroying the very biophysical environment upon which we are dependent. The author argues that the social organisation of our industrial and agricultural system of production is incongruent with the thermodynamic principles upon which our biophysical system is based. Regeneration or maintenance of the biophysical system is therefore seriously threatened by how we use it. Our evasion of thermodynamic principles (primarily the first two laws of thermodynamics) occurs &dquo;... because humans have learned to operate across ecosystems, and to view their sociocultural production as rested in a different set of principles economic, not ecological. The distinctions between these two sets of rules are important in understanding the generation of environmental problems, and the historical development of societal economies&dquo; (p. 15). Understanding pollution and correcting it therefore requires a close study of modem production systems. Social factors maintaining the current social and economic structure of these systems are the basic causes of pollution, or more generally, &dquo;biospheric disorganization&dquo;. The book is divided into two sections. The first deals with the social factors
The Journal of Environmental Education, Oct 1, 1976
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 2017
Comparative Sociology, 1980
Journal of Environmental Management, Apr 1, 1985
Inequities in the costs and benefits of environmental programs complicate management of non-point... more Inequities in the costs and benefits of environmental programs complicate management of non-point pollution from agriculture. Soil runoff from farms is a primary source of urban water pollution and co-operation between farm and city residents is necessary for the successful development and implementation of pollution control efforts. A critical point of analysis is whether rural and city people, when there is non-point pollution from farm erosion, respond on the basis of their self-interest or knowledge of the causes and consequences of the pollution. Public responses, in this study, include levels of technically accurate knowledge, beliefs about who is to blame for lake pollution, and environmental concern. It was found that residence is strongly associated with local environmental concern and how people allocate blame. Studies in the community show that lake pollution is mostly caused by farm soil loss. However, farmers tend to blame city residents for lake pollution. Levels of technically accurate knowledge have no direct association with either concern or allocation of blame. Education, as one indicator of knowledge, is associated with level of technical knowledge and concern, but not with how residents attribute blame. The data illustrate the dilemmas of regulating non-point water pollution from farm erosion. Themore » authors argue that residential self-interest by farmers is related more to the constraints they face in controlling soil erosion, than to any inherently negative response to environmental quality and management.« less
Impact Assessment, Dec 1, 1995
The Journal of Environmental Education, Sep 1, 1972
Public attitudes about scientific information and thc role of the scientist in decision-making by... more Public attitudes about scientific information and thc role of the scientist in decision-making by community conflict • 12 II. Public attitudes about scientific information and the role of the scientist in decision-making by type of community conflict attitudes about scientific information and role in decision-making by community size •• scientists 17 IV. Public attitudes about scientific information and the role of the scientist by median years of education in each community 17 V. Public attitudes about scientific information and the role of the scientist in environmental decision-making by nercent in each community having at least a college degree 19 VI. Public attitudes about scientific inforJllation and the role of the scientist in environmental decision-making in each community by degree of personal concern in each community. 10 VII. Public attitudes about scientific information and the role of the scientist in environmental decision-making in each commw1ity by level of general participation in each community • 21 VIII. Public attitudes about scientific information and the role of the scientist in environmental decision-making by degree of citizen participat ion in environmental issues in each community • • • • ?J IX. A comparison of public and leader's attitudes about scientifi.c information and its use in environmental decision-making 23 x. A comparison of public and leader's attitudes about scientific information and its use in environmental decision-making by degree of community conflict A comparison of public and leader's attitudes about scientific information and its use in environmental decision-makinr, by size of community A comparison of public and leader's attitudes about scientific information and its use in environmental decision-making by degree of public participation in environmental issues 30 XIII. A comparison of public and leader's attitudes about scientific information and its use in enviornmenta1 decision-makinF, by degree of personal concern about environmental issues in a cOlllInunity .
Human Organization, Sep 1, 1976
Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Mar 1, 1990
The role of social impact assessment (SIA) in development decision making is a continual theoreti... more The role of social impact assessment (SIA) in development decision making is a continual theoretical and practical problem. Designed as a rational means for improving the intelligence of decision making by communities and government agencies, SIA is fundamental to development. SIA is a learning process contributing to the ability of communities and societies to learn and change. Grounding SIA in sound social theory helps to ensure independence of analysis from political judgments. However, SIA is most effective in structures that allow for political mobilization and should not be seen as a substitute for public participation. Two areas of sociological research (communities and organizations) are important to understanding how assessment data are diffused through a community and used by organizations and decision makers over time.
Impact Assessment, Dec 1, 1991
Change in industrial organizations is one of the elemental facets of change in modern industrial ... more Change in industrial organizations is one of the elemental facets of change in modern industrial societies because of their power and the immense volume of waste, solid and liquid that comes from industrial production. Change is a complex phenomena at all levels of analysis; industrial changes in water use are preceded by general societal changes as to priorities and values regarding economic production as opposed to living quality or a clean physical environment. Numerous agencies and organizations, private and public, now exist for the sole purpose of changing and regulating private and public water use. The conservation ethic has been part of society for some time but it gained power only in the last decade to the point where fundamental issues related to the organization of industrial production have come the fore. Any study of industrial change, therefore, has to consider the relationship that industrial organizations have to such groups. Under the model of development emphasizing economic growth per se, there was little if any pressure upon industries to consider the affect of their production on external factors like water quality. There is pressure and the pressure can be expected to continue. Water has always been one of man’s most vital resources and its importance has increased as industrial and agricultural development began to accelerate. Water is, at the same time, basic to human health and consumption, a basic ingredient of agriculture, of public recreation, and of course, a principal input to industrial production of all kinds. Industry uses more water as direct and indirect input to production than any other single source. As a result of its many uses and the mutual dependence of various groups upon water but with decidedly different goals and responsibilities, water use has become a focal point of controversy and change. Fundamental change is in the offering in terms of past and current debates about the relative responsibility of industry to clean public water after they use it in vast quantities and usually at rather low economic cost. Certainly, there are now differences among groups calling for changes in industrial water use and within industry itself as to what kinds of changes are to be made. There is, however, one constant factor. Industry and other groups, private and public, can no longer use water as they have in the past. This study is an attempt to further understand the process by which industrial organizations change the way they dispose of waste. Substantively, the relationship of organizational characteristics to rates of change in waste procedure is of interest. A general model of change is envisioned. The two major forces creating change in industrial organizations are the internal pressures within the organization that result from such factors as the complexity of its division of labor and production technology, and the kinds of pressure the organization faces as the result of powerful and aggressive regulatory agencies and other groups. Finally, the nature of dependence the firm has upon water affects change. To test hypotheses and find answers to questions, a comparative study of firms in different industrial categories w as made. Each category was selected because of its dependence upon water as a production input and by the importance of its operation for water pollution. Industries were studied at two points in time. In the first phase, the primary interest was in measuring the internal characteristics of the organization – how complex their structure was, the nature of their production technology, and the rates of change they had experiences in water use and production over the last ten years. The principal investigator then waited a year in order to measure the degree of change that the company experience in water use and waste procedures for that year. The nature of the relationship of the organization to outside pressures such as regulation was also measured in the second phase. The study, therefore, estimated changes in the company by production managers over a ten year period prior to contact and the changes they report for a single year. One-hundred and twenty-eight organizations were studied in the first phase. They were selected systematically but not randomly. It was, in other words, a purposive rather than a probability sample. One hundred and two organizations were chosen from the original 128 to be included n the second phase of the analysis. Industrial firms selected had high volumes of waste water, high bio-chemical oxygen demand because of their wastes, and produced substantial amounts of settleable and suspended solids. Twenty-eight of the firms studied could be categorized as producing food and kindred products. Eight industries produced paper and allied products. Twenty-nine of the companies could be classified as producers of chemicals or allied products. There were seven petroleum companies and thirty others that could be included among…
Journal of Mathematical Sociology, Jul 1, 1994
ABSTRACT Relationships between size and structural differentiation are basic points of analysis b... more ABSTRACT Relationships between size and structural differentiation are basic points of analysis by organizational sociologists. Building upon Blau's 1970 theory of size and structure in organizations, we present a thermodynamic model of these relationships that offers a new theoretical perspective on processes central to understanding organizations: structural stability, equilibrium and change. Our method is to adapt Blau's theory to thermodynamic principles that specify relationships between organizational parameters such as size and differentiation and thereby explain stability. The underlying question for analysis, we propose, is the nature of organizational stability rather than temporal direct or indirect relationships between organizational size and structural differentiation. Starting with Blau's formal theory of size and differentiation, we use the model to logically justify and clarify interpretations in his generalizations and the more recent work of others. We start with Blau's theory because of its focus on stability and equilibrium in organizations and derive stability conditions in organizational structures by using a thermodynamic theory of physical systems.
Society & Natural Resources, Mar 1, 1997
Indigenous people and their communities are often critical actors in resource development network... more Indigenous people and their communities are often critical actors in resource development networks dominated by large-scale private and public sector organizations. Development policies and projects have often been contentious in Australia because lands on which development has occurred or been proposed are frequently areas of spiritual and traditional significance to Aboriginal people. Conflicts over development are therefore intense, occur in the context of a history of social and political exploitation of Aboriginal people, and focus on issues of symbolic value, local autonomy, power, and participation in planning. This article applies social assessment models recognizing resource development as a power network to the analysis of the social impacts of development and focuses on the political involvement of local communities as basic to social justice. Research results suggest that social impact assessments should include assessments of community competency to participate in corporate resource development networks and should study the institutional basis of local participation.
Rural Sociology, Oct 22, 2009
Abstract Farmer dependence on large-scale organizations for inputs to production is an attribute ... more Abstract Farmer dependence on large-scale organizations for inputs to production is an attribute of Australian agriculture and has changed the character of farm work and how farmers see the future of agriculture. We discuss how these changes are related to farmer ...
Journal of The American Water Resources Association, Feb 1, 1985
Adoption, maintenance, and operation of pollution control technology by manufacturing firms is es... more Adoption, maintenance, and operation of pollution control technology by manufacturing firms is essential to effective water resource management. In this study of 102 industries, we find that company adoption of pollution control technology and practices is primarily associated with two factors: (1) the overall company capacity for innovation in its production technology; and (2) company relationships with state and federal pollution control agencies, local government officials and professionals. Managerial attitudes about pollution and government regulation are not associated with either pollution control or commercial innovation, but are seen as basic to industrygovernment relationships. The data suggest an important regulatory dilemma, the problem of regulating a large number of small companies with a low capacity for innovation, but which when taken together account for large volumes of toxic effluent.
The Australian and New Zealand journal of sociology, Aug 1, 1984
or indirectly utilized by present societies.&dquo; The point of his argument is that present ... more or indirectly utilized by present societies.&dquo; The point of his argument is that present industrial production systems and the social inequalities they create are at odds with improving or maintaining environmental quality and, at worst, are destroying the very biophysical environment upon which we are dependent. The author argues that the social organisation of our industrial and agricultural system of production is incongruent with the thermodynamic principles upon which our biophysical system is based. Regeneration or maintenance of the biophysical system is therefore seriously threatened by how we use it. Our evasion of thermodynamic principles (primarily the first two laws of thermodynamics) occurs &dquo;... because humans have learned to operate across ecosystems, and to view their sociocultural production as rested in a different set of principles economic, not ecological. The distinctions between these two sets of rules are important in understanding the generation of environmental problems, and the historical development of societal economies&dquo; (p. 15). Understanding pollution and correcting it therefore requires a close study of modem production systems. Social factors maintaining the current social and economic structure of these systems are the basic causes of pollution, or more generally, &dquo;biospheric disorganization&dquo;. The book is divided into two sections. The first deals with the social factors
The Journal of Environmental Education, Oct 1, 1976
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 2017
Comparative Sociology, 1980
Journal of Environmental Management, Apr 1, 1985
Inequities in the costs and benefits of environmental programs complicate management of non-point... more Inequities in the costs and benefits of environmental programs complicate management of non-point pollution from agriculture. Soil runoff from farms is a primary source of urban water pollution and co-operation between farm and city residents is necessary for the successful development and implementation of pollution control efforts. A critical point of analysis is whether rural and city people, when there is non-point pollution from farm erosion, respond on the basis of their self-interest or knowledge of the causes and consequences of the pollution. Public responses, in this study, include levels of technically accurate knowledge, beliefs about who is to blame for lake pollution, and environmental concern. It was found that residence is strongly associated with local environmental concern and how people allocate blame. Studies in the community show that lake pollution is mostly caused by farm soil loss. However, farmers tend to blame city residents for lake pollution. Levels of technically accurate knowledge have no direct association with either concern or allocation of blame. Education, as one indicator of knowledge, is associated with level of technical knowledge and concern, but not with how residents attribute blame. The data illustrate the dilemmas of regulating non-point water pollution from farm erosion. Themore » authors argue that residential self-interest by farmers is related more to the constraints they face in controlling soil erosion, than to any inherently negative response to environmental quality and management.« less
Impact Assessment, Dec 1, 1995