Larry Saha Room, HA2175, Haydon-Allen Building, ANU.  Presented by Emeritus Professor Andrew Hopkins.

Andrew Hopkins is working under contract to the US Chemical Safety Board inquiry into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. This is one of several inquires, and the most sociological in its orientation. The seminar will first describe the approaches of these different inquiries. It will then focus on what sociology has to offer to our understanding of this incident. The discussion will touch on organisational sociology, Charles Perrow’s normal accident theory, Diane Vaughan’s normalisation of deviance, and groupthink. The seminar will also note the limitations of some sociological contributions to the discussion of this disaster.