Search -
Risk: A Sociological Theory (Communication and Social Order)
Risk A Sociological Theory - Communication and Social Order Author:Niklas Luhmann A great deal of attention has been devoted of late to risk research; however, theoretical sociology has shown little interest in it. Sociologists have until now limited themselves to varying recognitions of a society at risk and have traced out the paths to disaster. The detailed research has yet to be undertaken. In this volume, Niklas Luhmann ... more »develops a theoretical program for such research. His premise is that the concept of risk projects essential aspects of our description of the future onto the present. Risk is conceived as the possibility of triggering unexpected, unlikely, and detrimental consequences by means of a decision attributable to a decision maker. Individual chapters show how strongly and how differently the separate function systems in modern society, such as politics, law, science, and the economy, react to the hazardous situations to which they are exposed. Luhmann's thesis is that the gap between those who participate in decisions and those who are excluded from the decision-making process, but who nevertheless have to bear the consequences of the decisions taken, has been increasing. "It is thus all the more necessary," writes Luhmann, "to point out from the start that no mental and no mechanistic phenomena are meant. Our analysis of society" - and of the risk element in A all societal systems - "is exclusively concerned with communications."« less