ABSTRACT
One of the most provocative assertions made by risk society theorists is the claim that the traditional categories of identity and location within the contemporary social order – designations based on gender, kinship, class, race, etc. – no longer carry substantial meaning and significance. At work in the risk society are fundamental changes in consciousness and agency, along with institutional rearrangements, which align with the growth of environmental, political and economic risks on a global scale. Risk society theorists argue that risk consciousness and ‘institutionalized individualism’ are displacing social and cultural differentiations tied to class, race and gender (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2002).
