RISK SOCIETY

Risk Society

Risk Society

Introduction

Within sociology, Ulrich Beck's Risk Society (1992) has been influential in putting the concept of risk on the agenda. In it, Beck shows how the modern industrial production of welfare has had unintended consequences. In addition to creating welfare in Western societies we have also produced new sources of risk. Beck concludes that the concept of risk has become a root metaphor for late- modern societies. While risk was previously related to a lack of knowledge, the creation of new risks in late-modern societies is seen as a result of the high degree of knowledge that humans possess and utilize to change their environmental surroundings. The consequences of climate change, which have started to make their presence felt in the last few decades, are a typical example of such man-made risks. 

Society

Many have sought to capture the most important patterns of evolution in integrated descriptions of society.On a large-scale level, we can describe our modern society at least three ways - three ways that are highly relevant when trying to understand the technological future. This article will focus on the Risk Society, the Information Society and the Dream Society. There are many other that could have been relevant (e.g., the Networking Society, though that is more about power structures), but for the sake of comprehension, we'll start by looking at a minimal model.Descriptions of society all contemplate the world, but focus on different aspects. In academic terms, we're speaking about "social optics". A social optic - or discourse - is a pair of goggles through which we decode our world. We look at the world through the goggles and use them to understand our present. The goggles prioritise a certain agenda that the society adheres to. E.g., if we believe in the dream society, offers and products must be measured by what effect they have on the consumer. Of course, there are many goggles - economical, ecological, socialistic, liberal, etc. - optics that make the viewers perceive the world differently.

Beck's Risk Society

The German sociologist Ulrich Beck asserts that we at present are living in a risk society. Unlike the industrial society, which distributes goods, the risk society is characterised by the fact that it distributes evils. It produces risks. Risk are, according to Beck, the unintended consequences of the modern, industrial methods of production. For instance, we have dioxin in fish, anti-freeze in wines, hormones in sun lotions, and toxins in car exhaust. All the unpleasant things that we have to live with. An enlightened acknowledgement of the hazards of the world, and at the same time a "democratic" system in that risks are distributed evenly and can strike the high as easily as the low. It is of course possible to buy a less polluted place to live and spend money on healthy victuals, but the point is that you still have to be aware of these risks in order to avoid them. And it is this awareness that interests Beck.Mankind has certainly always had to live with risks, but today, they are more ...