Exacerbating Beck's Risk Society (1992) -The 'pandemic' and Beyond (original) (raw)

Today, risk has been multiplied and exacerbated beyond anything that even Ulrich Beck's work on 'risk society' seemed to suggest when first published, although with hindsight one can detect traces of the excessive risks of the present, centred on the Covid-19 'pandemic', in his prognostications. Setting aside the contribution of Anthony Giddens to the social theory of the 'risk society', this paper concentrates on the work of Beck instead, with a view to mining it heuristically for a better comprehension of the risks unleashed by the Covid-19 'pandemic' and everything associated with it. It is argued that, despite sharing the denominator of 'technological', compared to the kinds of risk distinguished by Beck, those introduced by the 'pandemic', lockdowns, Covid 'vaccines', and in their wake, economic hardship, to mention only some, are of a different, more deleterious order altogether. If, in contrast with the society of wealth-distribution (through goods), the 'risk society' was recognisable by the (by-)production and distribution of hazards such as toxic contaminants, pollution and climate-changing emissions, today society seems to be facing something far worse, namely the production of potentially, if not actually, lethal substances and conditions. If the hazards of risk society were seen as preventable (compared to 'natural' perils)after all, they were socially produced and exacerbated (or sometimes moderated) by economic and cultural practices one might expect that it would be the case with those faced today, too. This, it turns out, is highly improbable, largely because growing evidence suggests that most of the 'ultra-risks' that have emerged of late have been produced intentionally, or by design, and that it is too late to undo most of them, although others may be prevented. What Beck argued, namely that the potential for cataclysm was increasing, has been exacerbated beyond what could have been expected under ‘normal’ risk-conditions. Ironically, under these conditions the uncertainties of science in the face of unpredictable risk, which were highlighted by Beck, have made way for contrary, ideological claims concerning the ‘certainties’ of ‘the science’ in relation to COVID-19. These and other aspects of ‘pandemic’ society, are addressed through the lenses of Beck’s work on risk society, raising the fraught question of the possible extinction of humanity.