Reviews
“Examining everyday toxics from a variety of angles, MacKendrick’s book is an impressive analysis of how many of us shop today, why we do so, and what we can do to achieve greater equality.”—New Books Network
"The topic dealt within the book is timely and of great concern to post-modern consumers: how do we make our decisions when buying something that can affect our health? . . . It shows how the failure to apply the precautionary principle in the USA leads inexorably individual consumers alone to navigate complicate decisions about which products to buy, whilst widespread consumers’ concern and uncertainty open spaces to be capitalised by the market actors on the promise of health and safety."—Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies
"Better Safe than Sorry is a richly evidenced, engagingly written account of a phenomenon of central interest to sociologists studying health, gender, social movements, political consumption, and the environment. MacKendrick has provided readers with a definitive account of precautionary consumption, theorizing this phenomenon in a way that connects macro- to microlevel social action. This work shows us how corporate control of government regulation renders the consumer marketplace a minefield of health risks and how gendered social discourses implicating mothers as the guardians of their families’ well-being combine to create a practice that is financially, temporally, and emotionally draining: precautionary consumption."—American Journal of Sociology
“Better Safe Than Sorry takes on the timely question of how consumers understand and make decisions about the daily chemical exposures we face. Weaving together a rich explanation of the complex evolution of chemical regulation with an empathetic exploration of individual collective strategies to mitigate risk, Norah MacKendrick makes an important contribution to our understanding of this significant issue, which lies at the intersection of science, environmentalism, parenting, corporations, and public health.”—Jennifer A. Reich, author of Calling the Shots: Why Parents Reject Vaccines
“This is a unique examination of policy and regulation, the environmental health movement, and corporate and individual responses to chemical contamination in food and personal care products. It’s a fresh look at how people put excessive effort into reading labels and buying products that provide them with less toxic exposure and healthier lives, while the corporate structure is so powerful and the regulatory framework so weak that individual efforts are never enough. MacKendrick weaves together environmental sociology, gender studies, popular culture, environmental studies, and social movements while highlighting the centrality of gender in ‘precautionary consumption.’“—Phil Brown, author of Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement
“MacKendrick proves why the supermarket, the pantry, and even the label on your lotion are objects of sociological investigation as critical and consequential as the street corner, the newsstand, and the operating room. This book is growing more relevant, more urgent by the minute.”—Rebecca Altman, writer and sociologist
“Well researched and beautifully written, Better Safe Than Sorry shows how ‘precautionary consumption’ is a logical but inadequate response to a regulatory system that has failed consumers and the environment. By showing how strategies like reading labels and choosing ecofriendly products perpetuate inequalities, this book makes critical contributions to our understanding of consumption, risk, and environmental regulation.”—Sarah Bowen, author of Divided Spirits: Tequila, Mezcal, and the Politics of Production
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