ABSTRACT
As I observed in Chapter 2, the exponents of the ‘risk society’ perspective are primarily interested in the ways in which the concept of risk is related to the conditions of late modernity. This perspective offers an approach that considers the politics and macro-level of the current meanings and strategies of risk. ‘Risk society’ exponents focus on such processes as individualization, reflexivity and globalization as converging in the ‘risk society’ of Western nations. This chapter examines the insights offered by the two major exponents of the ‘risk society’ thesis: Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens. Although they initially developed their diagnoses of risk and late modernity largely separately of each other, the writings of Beck and Giddens have much in common: hence the decision to consider them together in this chapter. However, as I note at the end of the chapter, there are also some major differences in their writings which require acknowledgment.
