As technological change progresses more rapidly, producing new forms of risk, we must constantly respond and adjust to the changes. Risks today involve a series of interrelated changes in contemporary social life: shifting employment patterns, heightened job insecurity, the declining influence of tradition and custom on self-identity, the erosion of traditional family patterns and the democratization of personal relationships. Because personal futures are much less fixed than in the past, decisions of all kinds present risks for individuals. Getting married, for example, is a more risky course today than it was when marriage was a lifelong commitment. Decisions about educational qualifications and career paths can also feel risky: it is difficult to predict what skills will be valuable in an economy that changes as rapidly as ours.
Sociology
by Anthony Giddens and Philip W. Sutton
Chapter 5: The Environment
Living in the global ‘risk society’
Humans have always had to face risks of one kind or another, but today’s risks are qualitatively different from those that came in earlier times. Until quite recently, human societies were threatened by external risk – dangers such as drought, earthquakes, famines and storms that spring from the natural world and are unrelated to the actions of humans. The Japanese earthquake discussed at the outset of this chapter shows that external risks of this kind will continue, as planet Earth is characterized by many natural processes. However, we are also increasingly confronted by various types of manufactured risk that are created by the impact of our own knowledge and technology on the natural world.
Debates on genetically modified foods and global warming have presented individuals with new choices and challenges in their everyday lives. Because there are no definitive answers as to the consequences of such risks, each individual is forced to make decisions about which risks they are prepared to take. Should we use food and raw materials if their production or consumption has a negative impact on our health and the natural environment? Even seemingly simple decisions about what to eat are made in the context of conflicting information and opinions about the product’s relative merits and drawbacks.
Ulrich Beck (1992, 1999, 2009) has written extensively about risk and globalization. As technological change progresses more rapidly, producing new forms of risk, we must constantly respond and adjust to the changes. Risks today involve a series of interrelated changes in contemporary social life: shifting employment patterns, heightened job insecurity, the declining influence of tradition and custom on self-identity, the erosion of traditional family patterns and the democratization of personal relationships. Because personal futures are much less fixed than in the past, decisions of all kinds present risks for individuals. Getting married, for example, is a more risky course today than it was when marriage was a lifelong commitment. Decisions about educational qualifications and career paths can also feel risky: it is difficult to predict what skills will be valuable in an economy that changes as rapidly as ours. ‘Classic studies 5.2’ (overleaf) explores Beck’s arguments, specifically in relation to environmental risks.