ABSTRACT
As we have shown in the previous chapters, Ulrich Beck has had a great deal of influence on the theoretical developments and agendas of international sociology for some years now. His theories have received an otherwise rare amount of attention, both from sociological circles as well as from the broader public. Beck, according to Gabe Mythen (2005a), has even come to be called one of the most influential and important sociologists of his time. It is obvious, says Mythen (2007), that Beck has helped introduce a new sociological agenda. Mythen points out that there have been a number of positive readings of Beck which have tended to focus on the socially progressive dimensions of his thesis of the risk society; he mentions as examples Bronner, who has called Risk Society a work of great analytic and epistemological potential, and McGuigan, who has called it one of the main works in the history of social theory (Mythen, 2007; Bronner, 1995; McGuigan, 1999: 125). Mythen even believes that Beck’s thought has set a new agenda, as other theoreticians such as Eder, Giddens and Strydom in some of their work build on Beck’s theory as a sort of starting point, and thereby have formed a kind of ‘risk society school’ within sociology (Mythen, 2007: 795; Giddens, 1998; Strydom, 2002). Much in the same vein, William Outhwaite says that Beck, along with Bauman, Bourdieu and Giddens, has achieved ‘canonical’ status in contemporary British sociology (Outhwaite, 2009) – a status which we would venture extends to many other parts of the world as well.
