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Is Living With ‘Risk’ the Price We Pay for Scientific Progress?
Ulrich Beck and the Phenomenon of Risk
Not a day exists in which we do not wrestle with the calculation of risk. The likelihood that sitting for an hour longer in an office chair will result in a chronic disease later in life. The risk that exposing oneself to sunlight for too long will cause cancer, or conversely, that not getting enough sun will result in a vitamin-D deficiency. The omnipresent threat of climate change, nuclear war and the outbreak of global pandemic, all of which we have little control over yet find ourselves deeply troubled by nonetheless. Indeed, in the 21st century, the price paid for scientific development and societal progress may very well be a heightened risk consciousness and the amplification insecurity.
One could argue that modern society is defined by the phenomenon of risk — and that is the very argument of German sociologist Ulrich Beck who claims that we now live in what can be considered a ‘risk society’. Beck argues that the diffusion of scientific knowledge and the unrelenting march of globalisation have combined to inform the average person’s knowledge of an ever-expanding inventory of risk they ought to be concerned about. Through allying itself to science, humanity has overcome many of its natural enemies including plague, famine and war. However…
