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Howling Winds: Sound, Sense, and the Politics of Noise Regulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2019

Michael Mopas
Michael Mopas*
Affiliation:
Sociology & Anthropology Carleton [email protected]
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Abstract

This paper explores attempts made in North America to govern noise and uses the current debates over the impact of wind turbines on human health as a site for examining the politics of noise regulation. I address a number of key questions: First, how has noise been defined and how have these definitions changed over time? Second, how have we tried to control noise and on what grounds have we done this? Lastly, how have our responses to noise been shaped by who is making the noise and who is being disturbed? I argue that our understandings of noise and how we regulate it cannot be disentangled from the broader social, political, cultural, and technological contexts in which these discussions take place. Ultimately, the debates about noise regulation have as much to do with who is making the noise and who is being disturbed as the noise, itself.

Résumé

Cet article explore les tentatives de gestion des bruits utilisées en Amérique du Nord. Les débats actuels relatifs à l’impact des éoliennes sur la santé humaine seront examinés afin d’étudier les politiques de régulation du bruit. J’aborde, dans cet article, un certain nombre de questions clés. Premièrement, de quelle manière le bruit a-t-il été défini, et comment ces définitions ont-elles évolué au fil du temps? Deuxièmement, de quelle façon avons-nous tenté de contrôler le bruit, et sur quels motifs ces tentatives s’appuyaient-elles? Dernièrement, de quelle manière nos réponses au bruit ont-elles été façonnées par les personnes qui produisent le bruit et par celles qui sont affectées par celui-ci? J’argüe que notre compréhension du bruit, ainsi que la façon dont nous le réglementons, ne peuvent être dissociées des contextes sociaux, politiques, culturels et technologiques plus larges dans lesquels ces discussions se déroulent. Ultimement, les débats sur la régulation du bruit se rapportent autant aux personnes qui sont responsables du bruit et celles qui sont perturbés par ce dernier, que le bruit lui-même.

Keywords

soundnoiseregulationurbanruralSonbruitrèglementationurbainrural
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 34 , Special Issue 2: Vers une déstabilisation du sensorium du droit: Étude de la jurisprudence des sens / Troubling Law’s Sensorium: Explorations in Sensational Jurisprudence , August 2019 , pp. 307 - 325
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association / Association Canadienne Droit et Société 2019 

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References

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Court and tribunal cases cited

Dixon v. Director, Ministry of the Environment, 2014 ONSC 7404 (CanLII)Google Scholar
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