ABSTRACT
Beck’s analysis of risk society begins with the destruction of industrial modernity and class-based stratification. In industrial society, class was the foundation of social position, and disputes among classes concerned equality. For example, the incidence of poverty is hierarchical and confined to certain class clustering. However, Beck maintains that in risk society there is an equal probability of risks for all classes. Whereas the central concern in industrial society was the pursuit of something ‘good’, in risk society, it is the avoidance of something ‘bad’. In industrial society, conflicts arose from the distribution of goods, but in risk society, they arise from avoiding evils (Beck 1992: 49). Beck argues that we experience ‘solidarity of anxiety’ in risk society rather than the ‘solidarity of need’ that characterizes industrial society. The implication of his argument for social policy is straightforward: the main issue is no longer goods distribution but the reduction of collective fears. Decision-making (on the individual and national level), which was once based on past experience, is now directed toward an incalculable and unforeseen future.
