GENDER, RACE, AND PERCEPTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL-HEALTH RISKS

This paper reports the results of a national survey in which perceptio ns of environmental health risks were measured for 1275 white and 214 nonwhite persons. The results showed that white women perceived risks to be much higher than did white men, a result that is consistent with previous studies. However, this gender difference was not true of non white women and men, whose perceptions of risk were quite similar. Mos t striking was the finding that white males tended to differ from ever yone else in their attitudes and perceptions - on average, they percei ved risks as much smaller and much more acceptable than did other peop le. These results suggest that sociopolitical factors such as power, s tatus, alienation, and trust are strong determiners of people's percep tion and acceptance of risks.