Uncertainty

Thinking about uncertainty is aptly captured by Beck’s (1992) description of contemporary times as ‘reflexive modernity’, which involves:

a breakdown of predictable life stages, social rituals and norms because of uncertain social conditions;

increased access to information, both through educational opportunities and technological advances;

resulting shifts in social boundaries and categories and increased opportunity to remake them;

emphasis on the importance of individual identity-making and life choices;

contexts becoming more important;

the breaking of traditional boundaries, people deriving their sense of community from a wide range of networks;

different sources of power, less hierarchical and more mixed.