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Rationality as Social Justice and the Spatial-Distributional Analysis of Risk

Author

Listed:
  • Raul P Lejano

    (Environmental Policy Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 9-320, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA)

  • Bill Piazza

    (Los Angeles Unified School District, 1449 S. San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015, USA)

  • Douglas Houston

    (Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA)

Abstract

Policy analysis is driven by a dominant normative stance that conflates the notion of social welfare with some notion of collective good or, even more restrictively, strictly utilitarian notions of aggregate benefit. In this paper, we suggest how this perspective leads to a strongly aggregative analysis that masks concerns of actors in their unique contexts. We examine the policies of the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Los Angeles, California, USA and argue that they have strongly furthered the status quo at the expense of communities. We illustrate alternative models for analysis in the hope that this type of dialectic might lead to a more inclusive model of rationality. We also hope to take the conversation deeper into notions of justice and not farther away from them, as some attempts to broaden the discussion by appealing to notions of democratization, civic governance, or modernization naively do.

Suggested Citation

  • Raul P Lejano & Bill Piazza & Douglas Houston, 2002. "Rationality as Social Justice and the Spatial-Distributional Analysis of Risk," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 20(6), pages 871-888, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:20:y:2002:i:6:p:871-888
    DOI: 10.1068/c0033j
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. James T. Hamilton, 1993. "Politics and Social Costs: Estimating the Impact of Collective Action on Hazardous Waste Facilities," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 24(1), pages 101-125, Spring.
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