Risk perceptions and the maintenance of environmental injustice in an agriculturally-structured community

Keywords: Environmental justice, farm labor, agricultural health hazards, risk studies, CBPR
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

In this article, I use the risk society thesis to explain why and how environmental inequality, in this case living near agricultural hazards, is maintained in a Latinx farmworker community. I use a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to examine a single community case study through participant observation and focus groups (n=5). I focus on participants’ perceptions about living near chronic agricultural pollution in the heart of California’s Central Valley, where farmworker communities disproportionately suffer from the presence of agricultural hazards (CalEPA, 2021). Results highlight how contextual (place-based) and institutional resources produce an ambiguous climate for community response to environmental inequality. Consequently, the responsibility of managing agricultural hazards in the case study community is relegated to the household and individual levels. I discuss implications of the intersections of risk studies and environmental justice.