Wildavsky is perhaps most famous for his role in developing the Cultural Theory of risk. In 1982, he and anthropologist Mary Douglas wrote Risk and Culture. This book was both a critique of environmentalists, which they argued shared a worldview with sectarian groups like the Amish, as well as an initial statement of Cultural Theory. Later, he co-authored Cultural Theory with Richard Ellis and Michael Thompson, expanding the Cultural Theory concept and showing how it related to earlier theories in political science and anthropology.
*Winner of the 1996 [[Grawemeyer Award]] <ref>[http://grawemeyer.org/winners/previous-winners.html/ Previous Winners], Grawemeyer Awards, accessed March 23, 2009.</ref>
== Involvement with the Tobacco Industry ==