초록 열기/닫기 버튼
최근 한국사회는 과학기술의 발전과 함께 예전에 우리가 경험했던 재난과는 상이한 성격의 기술실패가 가져오는 재난으로 인한 고위험사회가 되고 있다. 산업화 이전에 우리사회에서 홍수, 가뭄, 전염병 등 자연재해로 인한 피해가 컸다면, 지금은 유조선에서 기름유출, 해난사고, 지하철사고, 유해 화학물질 유출사고, 원전사고 등 인간이 성취한 과학기술을 제대로 통제하지 못해서 발생하는 기술실패(technological failure)로 재난을 겪고 있다. 서구의 사회과학계에서는 1970년대 후반 이후 조직이론 차원에서 기술실패로 발생하는 인적재난의 원인을 설명하는 이론적 진화가 있었다. 본 논문은 조직을 분석단위로 하여 현재까지 발전되어온 이론들, 즉 인적재난에 대한 개념적 규정, 정상사고 이론, 인큐베이션 이론 및 고신뢰성 조직이론 등 문화적 접근, 권력관계로 바라보는 시각, 신제도주의적 접근 등을 정리하고 있다. 재난에 대한 조직이론적 접근 속에서 본 논문은 서구의 재난이론이 줄 수 있는 통찰력을 기반으로 한국형 재난을 설명하는데 필요한 이론을 발전시킬 것을 제안하고 있다.
Korean society becomes a high risk society because it, in developing science and technology, goes through the disasters which are different from those we previously experienced in the pre-industrialized society. Before the industrialization, we had to overcome natural disasters, such as flood, drought, plague and others, leading to serious damages. Currently we face man-made disasters - oil spill, marine accidents, petrochemical plant explosions, nuclear power accidents and others - which happen as a result of technological failure beyond our control. Since the late 1970s, the Western social scientists have developed disaster theories to explain causes of large scale technological failure at the organizational level. The article discusses the main arguments of these disaster theories - Normal Accidents theory, cultural approaches of Man-made Disaster and High Reliability Organizations theories, Power relations causing technological failure, and New Institutionalist approaches. The core concepts of them by and large are technological systems, culture, institutions, and power. These four concepts are major factors in explaining man-made disasters. While Normal Accidents theory emphasizes the inevitable nature of technological systems' failure, High Reliability Organizations theories try to find some reliable organizations which are robust under the error-avoiding cultures. Normal Accidents theory also focuses on political power reflecting top decision-makers interests. New Institutionalist approaches discuss incongruence between reality and institutions, which leads to institutional deficiency and thus man-made disasters. In analyzing disasters, we may consider these four core concepts to see the exact causes of them. In Korean contexts, however, there is some difficulties in applying those theories to explaining Korean-type disasters owing to the political power which disturbs rational and open discussion on the causes of man-made disasters. Although we can directly apply the above theories to Korean-type disasters, through the discussion of them, we will be able to acquire some insights which will be a basis of developing a theory appropriate to the Korean contexts.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
Social Construction of Disaster, Normal Accidents, High Reliability Organizations, Organizational Culture, Neoinstitutionalism, Power
