Living in the Risk Society

Risk Society, Global Vulnerability and Fragile Resilience; Sociological View on the Coronavirus Outbreak

“…The German sociologist Ulrich Beck defines it as a systematic way of dealing with hazards and insecurities induced and introduced by modernization itself (3). He attributes this to a farreaching change which he calls "reflexive modernization", where unintended and unforeseen side-effects of modern life backfire on modernity, questioning the very basis of its definition (4). Coronavirus outbreak shows that risk society leads to a vulnerable society.…”

Environmental Risks in Newspaper Coverage: A Framing Analysis of Investigative Reports on Environmental Problems in 10 Chinese Newspapers

“…Journalism has been regarded as fundamental to the creation of an awareness of risk (Beck, 1992;Wimmer & Quandt, 2006). The crucial role of journalism lies first in public exposure of such risks and then in interpreting them for the public (Wimmer & Quandt, 2006;Waisbord & Peruzzotti, 2009;Hansen, 1991).…”

The Critical Theory of World Risk Society: A Retrospective Analysis

“…Indeed, if one takes any major quantifiable threat to human existence in the modern world—famine, disease, warfare, terrorism—it is clear that the global distribution of harms is uneven and unequal. Taking the latter instance, despite the deluge of media coverage of terroristattacks occurring in Europe, the risk of being a victim is palpably higher in other areas of the globe (Wimmer & Quandt, 2007). Statistics compiled in The Global Terrorism Database (2016) indicate that just five countries—Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Syria—accounted for almost three‐quarters of the 29,376 deaths attributed to terrorism in the preceding year.…”