Title: Sociological understanding of risks: an empirical case study of Tipaimukh dam in Manipur, India

Authors: Thounaojam Somokanta

Addresses: Centre for Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, School of Social Sciences, Central University of Gujarat, Sector–30, Gandhinagar–382030, Gujarat, India

Abstract: This paper attempts to explore theory-empiric linkages of risk, technology, society, and environment movement by selecting a case study of Tipaimukh dam in Manipur. It begins with certain research questions: What is the theoretical understanding of 'risk' in the empirical domain of Tipaimukh dam? What is the significance of Beck's 'sub-politics' for understanding the environmental movement of Tipaimukh dam? How do the stakeholders of the dam show their own interest and negotiate each other? The concept of 'risk' coined by Beck is introduced to study the risk perspective of the dam. Beck's 'sub-politics' has been adopted for analysing the environmental movements of the dam. The present work uses an inductive approach which is qualitative in nature to generate a new theoretical insight of the dam. It concludes that a theoretical understanding of the empirical case of Tipaimukh dam is significant to understand the linkages of technology, society, and environmental movement.

Keywords: theory-empirics relations; sociology of risk; Tipaimukh dam; technology resistance; stakeholders; environmental movement; sustainability; society; India; sustainable development; case study; risk perspectives.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2014.066657

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2014 Vol.8 No.4, pp.363 - 379

Published online: 31 Dec 2014 *

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