Accidentology: Towards a Sociology of Accidents and Disasters

Abstract

While the unintended consequences of social action have exercised the sociological imagination since the discipline’s inception, sociology is yet to fully develop a systematic study of accidents and disasters. Leading figures in the field criticise current work on accidents for being piecemeal and isolated from mainstream sociology, for lacking theoretical innovation, for being blind to differential suffering and for being largely silent on questions of power. This article advances a case for an accidentology which will rectify these perceived flaws. It also advocates accidentology on the basis that accidents are socially patterned, that they are understudied compared to other social problems, and that they are increasing in scale, frequency and severity. In making these arguments we also consider what the examination of accidents and disasters will reveal.