مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Sociological Orientation of the Era of Manufactured Uncertainties: Discussions of “Risk Society” Rooted in Ulrich Beck And Anthony Giddens

Abstract :

Sociology, which is the science of the modernity, forms various theoretical grounds and attempts to find answers to the questions of what kinds of transformations and how the age we find ourselves in is about to witness with regard to individuals and societies, together with its endeavor to explain, to understand and even to figure out the dynamics of modern society and its new appearances. As the consequence of such an effort the theory of risk society starts from the thesis that the modernity and its institutions are shifted to a more progressive stage than it originally was, that the modernity is radicalized, and that in its present stage it is busy with dragging humanity towards an era of uncertainties the results of which cannot be predicted. What’s more the uncertainties in question are the productions of the modernity itself or modern men who have strived to dominate the nature. The unnatural uncertainties manufactured by men have created enormous risks represented by examples such as Chernobyl tragedy, global warming and deforestation the consequences of which could not be predicted. The society of the era of produced uncertainties is the risk society. This paper aims to analyze the theory of risk society with an appeal to the terms “reflexive modernization” and “radicalized modernity” devised by Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens both of whom are the architects of the theory, and then clarifies what kinds of results the theory has presently reached together with an explication of the sociological grounds of the theory.