ABSTRACT
Late or post-modern society is characterized by ‘risk’ (Giddens 1990, Hudson 2001, 2003, Kemshall 2003). Societies are concerned with risk (or more accurately increased risk) because they believe that they lack the controls they once had over their lives. To a certain extent, the unexpected and unanticipated, in an age when we think we should have greater control, takes people back to a pre-modern form of existence where natural disasters and threats determined the parameters of risk. For example, in late summer 2004 a sudden river surge almost destroyed the Cornish coastal village of Boscastle. People felt powerless in the face of nature. Yet the paradox is that the sudden upturn in the scale and frequency of natural disasters would at least in part appear to be triggered by the ‘advancement’ of society and its outcomes, that is, global warming. Therefore, this sense of insecurity and risk is fuelled by a belief that events are beyond control, framed by a context where they should be in control.
