This presentation assist you to learn about Risk Society

1. RISK
S O C I E T Y
G.M.P.V Godakanda
SOC 41623
Contemporary Social Theory
4000 Level
First Semester
Dept. of Sociology
University of Ruhuna
Sri Lanka

2. C O N T E N T
Term Society & Risk Society
Ulrich Beck
Beck & Risk
Reflexive Modernization
Previous studies
Risk, us & current society
References
Thank You

3. S O C I E T Y
R I S K S O C I E T Y

4. U L R I C H B E C K
15 May 1944 – 1 January 2015 (German Sociologist)
Began university studies with a focus on law at Freiburg
Earned Doctorate at 1972
In 1979 qualified as a university lecturer with a
habilitation thesis
received appointments as professor at the universities
of Munster
Beginning in 1999, he was the speaker of the DFG
research programme on Reflexive Modernity
Died at age 70 (2015)

5. It is impossible to fully understand the debates
surrounding risk-based regulation without
reading Risk Society: Towards a New
Modernity.
The book was originally published in German in
1986.
It is considered one of the most important
works that explore the shift in modernity from
industrialisation to the state of global affairs.
B E C K & R I S K

6. What is Risk Society?
According to the British sociologist Anthony Giddens, a risk society is "a
society increasingly preoccupied with the future (and also with safety), which
generates the notion of risk"

7. "A society in which the unknown and unintended consequences come to be a
dominant force in history and society."
"In the risk society, the past loses the power to determine the present. Its place is
taken by the future, thus, something non-existence, invented, fictive as the 'cause' of
current experiences and action."
Industrial society has created many new dangers of risks unknown in previous ages.
According to Beck.....
Ex: Global warming

8. R E F L E X I V E
M O D E R N I Z A T I O N
Speciality of risk society
In classical or industrial society the ideal was equality. And, the notions of welfare,
humanism, freedom and equality were inspired by enlightenment.
This ideal is abandoned in the new modernity. In classical modernity people achieved
solidarity to attain equality. But, in contemporary advanced modernity, the attempt to
achieve solidarity is found in the search for the largely negative and defensive goal of
being spared from danger and risk.

9. R E F L E X I V E
M O D E R N I Z A T I O N

10. 1. "Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity" (1986) by Ulrich Beck - This
book is considered one of the foundational works in the field of risk society
theory. In it, Beck explores how modern industrial societies are
characterized by the emergence of new risks and uncertainties that result
from technological advancements and economic globalization. He argues
that these risks are no longer confined to local or national contexts but
have become global in nature, affecting individuals and societies on a
broader scale.
2. "The Manufacture of Knowledge: An Essay on the Constructivist and
Contextual Nature of Science" (1984) by Ulrich Beck - In this early work,
Beck delves into the sociological aspects of scientific knowledge
production. He discusses how scientific knowledge is constructed and how
it interacts with societal contexts. He also addresses how risks and
uncertainties are shaped and influenced by scientific research and
technological development.
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11. Risk society does not merely arise from the reality that daily life has generally become
more dangerous; the problem is more about fading the borders of uncontrollable risks.
Ex: In the context of pandemic diseases, and in particular, COVID-19, which can be
defined as a disease of the risk society, this uncontrollable border fading is noticeably
visible from all developing to developed countries.

Beck wrote "risk may be defined as a systematic way dealing with hazards and
insecurities induced and introduced by modernization itself."
Beck carried on explaining that risks are spread within globalized industries.
R I S K , U S A N D C U R R E N T S O C I E T Y

12. Examples

13. is that all about risk?

15. visible
calculable
There is no accountability
Risk conditions are not always,

16. F I N A L L Y ,
Social progress and the development of risks without being able to localize
responsibility reflects Beck's reference to a "boomerang effect" in the sense that the
consequences of social progress are backfiring and strike all people regardless of
social class, even those who actually produced them.
As Lash and Wynne write in the introduction of Beck's book on risk society, "We are
therefore concerned no longer exclusively with making nature useful or with releasing
mankind from traditional constraints, but also and essentially with problems resulting
from techno-economic development itself.

17. Life is inherently risky. There is only one
big risk you should avoid at all costs, and
that is the risk of doing nothing.
- Denis Waitley-

18. A N Y Q U E S T I O N S ?
I S T H E R E S O M E T H I N G T H A T Y O U ' D L I K E T O C L A R I F Y ?
I S T H E R E A N Y P A R T Y O U ' D L I K E M E T O E L A B O R A T E ?
P L E A S E A D D . . . !

19. R E F E R E N C E S
Risk Society by Ulrich Beck.pdf. (n.d.).
Leiss, W., Beck, U., Ritter, M., Lash, S., & Wynne, B. (1994). Risk Society, Towards a New
Modernity. Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers Canadiens de Sociologie, 19(4), 544.
https://doi.org/10.2307/3341155.
Traulsen, J. M., & Bissell, P. (2010). (7) The risk society. International Journal of Pharmacy
Practice, 11(4), 251–258. https://doi.org/10.1211/0022357022638.
Boyd, W., Beck, U., & Shrader-Frechette, K. S. (1993). Risk Society: Towards a New
Modernity. In Economic Geography (Vol. 69, Issue 4). https://doi.org/10.2307/143601

20. T H A N K Y O U . . !