Perceptions of Risk from Industrial Pollution in China: a Comparison of Occupational Groups

As economic reforms have transformed the People’s Republic of China over the past several decades, rapid industrialization has resulted in air and water pollution problems that threaten the health of China’s citizens and damage the environment. Small-scale rural factories called “township and village enterprises” play a major role in China’s growing pollution problem. However, very little is known about how rural Chinese citizens perceive industrial pollution. This paper examines how community members in an industrial township in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan perceive the environmental risks associated with industrialization. The paper first focuses on identifying salient risks from pollution, as defined by local informants. Next, the risk perceptions of three occupational groups in the community (industrial workers, commercial and service sector workers, and farmers) are compared. In contrast to the common view that poor individuals and communities worry less about environmental problems, most informants in this study perceived industrial pollution as posing considerable risk to themselves and the community, despite the community’s heavy reliance on industry. This study also finds that different occupational groups perceive industrial pollution quite differently, and that these differences in risk perception are related to a number of factors, including the distribution of financial benefits from local factories. The paper concludes with theoretical and applied considerations for the study of environmental risk perception and risk management.