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The risk category and globalization in contemporary sociological discussions

Authors

  • Maria Thereza Rosa Ribeiro

    Doutora em Sociologia pela Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Professora da Universidade Federal de Pelotas, onde leciona no Mestrado em Sociologia (Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociologia (PPGS)) e na graduação em Ciências Sociais.
Keywords:
sociedade de risco, reflexividade, limites do espaço ambiental, democracia e formas de vida societária
Abstract
Abstract This article intends to address the contributions of Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens through the conceptual development of risk society and reflexive modernization. Beck’s views are based on the analysis of the social production of risk through the reflexivity of social modernization processes in advanced capitalism. Giddens discusses risks and dangers as effects of the industrial production, which are unpredictable in advanced modernity, while science allied to technique generates more technology and knowledge for the control of risk and security of social life. For Giddens and Beck, reflexive modernization means the agents’ reflexivity on the effects of the social processes affecting them. Consequently, in the age of uncertainty reflexivity interlaces rupture and continuity of traditional societal life forms. In order to advance the debate on globalization and risk, it is also considered the arguments of authors such as Altvater, Bauman, Sennett, Habermas and Boaventura de Sousa Santos, who deal with the consequences of globalization in contemporary capitalism, deregulation and economic politics, environmental degradation, scarcity of natural resources, pollution, the risk to human life, the danger of using technology and political instability. Authors with different positions on the same theme contribute for the understanding of postmodern thought regarding the prospect of changing the vulnerability of social life under risk into a move to reinvent democracy. Key words: Globalization; Environment; Public Policy. Classificação JEL: F6, F 64, Z18 Artigo recebido em maio 2012 e aceito para publicação em out. 2012.
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Published
2013-07-02
Issue
Vol. 34 No. 1 (2013)
Section
Artigos
License
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