Josep Espluga

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Institut de Govern i Politiques Publiques, Department Member

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PhD in sociology, and master in occupational health. He is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Senior researcher of the Public Policies and Government Institute (IGOP), member of the Social Policies Analysis Seminar (SAPS), and of the Research Group on Agriculture, Livestock and Food in Globalization (ARAG-UAB).

His main research streams are focused on the relationships between health, work, environment and territory, with particular attention to the social perception of technological risks and to the socioenvironmental conflicts.
Supervisors: Louis Lemkow
Address: Edifici B
Campus de la UAB
08193 Bellaterra (Spain)

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Papers by Josep Espluga

Farmer and Veterinarian attitudes towards the Bovine Tuberculosis eradication Programme in spain: What is going on in the Field

by Sergi López-Asensio and Josep Espluga

Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 2017

The effectiveness of health interventions against bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is influenced by seve... more The effectiveness of health interventions against bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is influenced by several " non-biological " factors that may hamper bTB detection and control. Although the engagement of stakeholders is a key factor for the eradication pro-gramme's success, social factors have been often ignored in the control programmes of animal diseases, especially in developed countries. In this study, we used a qualitative approach to investigate perceptions, opinions, attitudes, and beliefs of farmers, and veterinarians who may influence the effectiveness of the Spanish bTB eradication programme. The study was carried out in two phases. First, 13 key representatives of different groups involved in the programme were interviewed through exploratory interviews to identify most relevant themes circulating in the population. Interviews focused on strong and weak points of the programme; reasons for failure to achieve eradication; benefits of being disease free; future perspectives, and proposed changes to the programme. Based on these results, a thematic guide was developed and detailed information was gained through face-to-face in-depth interviews conducted on a purposive sample of 39 farmers and veterinarians. Data were analysed following an ethnographic methodology. Main results suggested that the bTB programme is perceived as a law enforcement duty without an adequate motivation of some stake-holders and a general feeling of distrust arose. The complexity of bTB epidemiology combined with gaps in knowledge and weak communication throughout stakeholders contributed to causing disbeliefs, which in turn generated different kinds of guesses and interpretations. Low reliability in the routine skin test for bTB screening was expressed and the level of confidence on test results interpretation was linked with skills and experience of public and private veterinarians in the field. Lack of training for farmers and pressure faced by veterinarians during field activities also emerged. Few benefits of being bTB free were perceived and comparative grievances referred to wildlife and other domestic reservoirs, sector-specific legislation for bullfighting farms, and the absence of specific health legislation for game hunting farms were reported.

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Participatión pública e inercia institucional en la gestión del agua en España / Public Participation and Institutional Inertia in Water Management in Spain

Reis

Los procesos de participación pública implementados a raíz de Ia Directiva Marco del Agua (DMA) c... more Los procesos de participación pública implementados a raíz de Ia Directiva Marco del Agua (DMA) constituyen un importante salto adelante para la democratización de la gestión del agua en España. En el presente texto, a partir de un análisis documental y entrevistas exploratorias, se señalan algunas de Ias virtudes y debilidades de dichos procesos. En general, se observa que los puntos más problemáticos tienen que ver con la inercia institucional que conforma Ias relaciones entre los organismos de cuenca y los usuarios tradicionales dei agua, así como con la falta de credibilidad que algunos de estos procesos han tenido para algunos de sus potenciales participantes. Como conclusión se advierte Ia necesidad de pensar nuevos diseños institucionales que respondan a la idea de gobernanza expresada por Ia DMA. The public participation processes that are taking place in Spain as a result of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) constitutes an important step forward towa...

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Institutional dimensions underlying public trust in information on technological risk

by Jordi Farré, Christian Oltra, Ana Prades Lopez, and Josep Espluga

format_quoteStrong correlations were observed among trust determinants, with egotism and honesty capturing high relational metrics (0.87, 0.97).format_quote

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Do the people exposed to a technological risk always want more information about it? Some observations on cases of rejection

by Christian Oltra, Jordi Farré, and Josep Espluga

There exist situations in which people who perceive themselves exposed to a technological risk fe... more There exist situations in which people who perceive themselves exposed to a technological risk feel uninformed but, at the same time, refuse to absorb new information about the said risk. With the objective of understanding this paradoxical situation, in this text, we are going to compare some empirical data obtained in two different studies carried out in Spain about the perception of technological risks, the first one, very specific and visible, related to petrochemical plants; and the second one, more abstract and opaque, related to nuclear fusion. According to the results some of the reasons that could explain this situation can be found in the structure of the social and institutional context in which people experience and perceive risks; a context in which acknowledging new information implies assuming new responsibilities on factors out of people's control.

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Factores que inhiben la movilización social: el caso del área petroquímica de Tarragona / Factors Inhibiting the Social Mobilization: The Case of the Petrochemical Area of Tarragona

by Jan Gonzalo, Jordi Farré, Ana Prades Lopez, Josep Espluga, and Jordi farré coma

Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas, 2014

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Metabolisms of injustice: municipal solid-waste management and environmental equity in Barcelona's Metropolitan Region

by Josep Espluga, Maria Cristina Fragkou, Luis Roca, and Xavier Gabarrell

Local Environment, 2013

In this paper, we propose an indicator suitable for the revision of municipal waste (MW) manageme... more In this paper, we propose an indicator suitable for the revision of municipal waste (MW) management strategies in line with basic waste management principles, based on the theory of social metabolism. The value of the MW management self-sufficiency indicator reflects the capacity of a system to manage the amount of MW it accepts and the grade of sustainability of the treatment practices followed within the system, valuing as the best option the use of residues as prime materials. Compared with waste recovery rates, the suggested indicator proves to be more comprehensive in assessing the sustainability of MW management plans in medium-scale urban regions. It considers the whole cycle of waste treatment and evaluates the social effort of a system to treat MW it does not generate. In combination with information provided by other urban sustainability indicators, as water use and air pollution, the indicator can be a useful tool in decision making. In this paper, the case of a highly urbanized coastal Mediterranean area (the city of Barcelona and its surroundings) is studied and assessed for a time period of eight years.

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Atur juvenil, salut i exclusió social

Resumen: La intención del presente artículo es presentar los objetivos y los primeros resultados ... more Resumen: La intención del presente artículo es presentar los objetivos y los primeros resultados de una investigación sobre paro juvenil, exclusión social y salud, que se está llevando a cabo en seis países europeos con el apoyo del Área de Investigación Socio-Económica (TSER) de la Comisión Europea. El presente escrito muestra una síntesis de una primera fase de la investigación (revisión bibliográfica y documental), que ha proporcionado información sobre dos ámbitos básicos: a) El análisis de los datos disponibles en la bibliografía española sobre paro y salud, con especial atención a los jóvenes; b) Una definición, análisis y descripción de cómo ha sido tratada la exclusión social en España y su relación con el paro juvenil. Así mismo, se presentan también algunas conclusiones preliminares de la segunda fase de la investigación (fase empírica), donde se muestra cómo la exclusión del mercado laboral, la exclusión económica y el aislamiento so- Sociologia, 15 (2001), p. 41-67

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La educación y las dimensiones del desarrollo humano en América Latina

Papeles de Población

The paper analyses some dimensions of human development in Latin America. First, the normative ac... more The paper analyses some dimensions of human development in Latin America. First, the normative accounts of social justice recommend that evaluations of public policies rely on data about school enrolment and academic performance and frame their conclusions in relevant analyses of material deprivation. Second, salient interactions have been noticed between lack of education, income poverty, frail health, inadequate housing conditions and insecurity. Finally, opportunity hoarding appears to be a causal mechanism of durable inequalities that hinders educational development in the region.

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