Before Accident Proneness
Before Accident Proneness
This chapter introduces the development of awareness of safety. Accident proneness had a particular background in the young science of psychology, and in the realm of general knowledge and belief. The core beliefs were stated in terms of familiar character flaws, which could be temporary or persistent: carelessness and clumsiness. It turned out that accident proneness was, like clumsiness, a natural characteristic of a person. The evidence suggests that around World War I, a functional gap appeared in Western culture that could be filled with the additive attribute of accident prone. The phenomenon and some idea of a category of a person who had repeated accidents were present in developed societies. The German origins of the term Unfallneigung, inclination to accident, are notable in confirming this impression and show how European thinkers were prepared for the idea of accident proneness when it appeared.
Keywords: safety, accident proneness, psychology, carelessness, clumsiness, Western culture, World War I
Chicago Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
