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Book Review: Regulating Reproduction: Law, Technology and Autonomy

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorEllie Lee
Date01 September 2002
DOI10.1177/096466390201100317
Published date01 September 2002
Subject MatterArticles
/tmp/tmp-18OHwlTaeBMCxy/input 466
SOCIAL & LEGAL STUDIES 11(3)
Clearly one of the strengths of this research monograph is that it addresses both
theoretical as well as policy issues in an area of activity in which regulation is of vital
concern. The offshore oil and gas industry has one of the worst accident records of any
industry. Mundane accidents have occurred on a day-to-day basis and there have also
been major tragedies, such as the explosion of the Piper Alpha platform on 6 July 1988
in which 167 people died. Dealing with policy issues, however, requires us to apply
concepts of normativity. Normativity, in turn, requires a vision of the ‘good’. This has
to be based on knowledge which can be communicated to other systems whose
actions can be thereby assessed. According to the concept of autopoiesis, communi-
cation between different systems is limited. In Paterson’s account, however, norma-
tive criteria seem at times important to the analysis. They underpin, for example, the
notion of ‘difference-minimization programmes’ (p. 144) through which systems
attempt to reduce differences between their existing mode of operation and an
improved situation (p. 61). Self-steering of systems occurs on the basis of these differ-
ence minimization programmes. Furthermore external normative criteria seem to be
implied when Paterson describes some systems’ rationalities as ‘inadequate’ (p. 158).
The most significant contribution of the study lies in its pioneering methodological
approach. First and most importantly, the author applied abstract systems theoretical
concepts, such as autopoietic closure, to the concrete area of health and safety regu-
lation through the technique of cognitive mapping. Internal accounts of health and
safety regulation, such as reports by inquiries that followed major accidents as well
as papers written by engineers and managers working in the industry, were analysed
and depicted in cognitive maps. Cognitive mapping involves identification in texts of
a multitude of communicative...

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