Risk

A great deal of attention has been devoted to risk research. Sociologists in general have 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 Risk, now available in paperback. Niklas Luhmann 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. Luhmann shows how strongly and how differently the separate segments of 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 has been increasing 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 decisions taken. It is a classic exploration of risk that will be valued by those interested in technology, communication, sociology, politics, and scientific research. This new edition of Risk includes an outstanding essay on the enormous importance of Niklas Luhmann in contemporary social theory. The authors explain not only why he has been all but ignored in the English-speaking world, but the lasting importance of Luhmann in developing a genuinely innovative vision of the component of modern society. Bechmann and Stehr show how the author of Risk is a universal scholar located within the context of Enlightenment and European sociology and philosophy.