Risk and Technological Culture : Towards a Sociology of Virulence

ISBN-13: 9780415229012 / Angielski / Miękka / 2003 / 234 str.

Joost Van Loon

Opis

The question as to whether we are now entering a risk society has become a key debate in contemporary social theory. Risk and Technological Culture presents a critical discussion of the main theories of risk from Ulrich Becks foundational work to that of his contemporaries such as Anthony Giddens and Scott Lash and assesses the extent to which risk has impacted on modern societies. In this discussion van Loon demonstrates how new technologies are transforming the character of risk and examines the relationship between technological culture and society through substantive chapters on topics such as waste, emerging viruses, communication technologies and urban disorders. In so doing this innovative new book extends the debate to encompass theorists such as Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari and Jean-Francois Lyotard.

Spis treści

Chapter 1 Introduction; Part I Theoretical framework; Chapter 2 Cultivating risks; Chapter 3 Enrolling risks in technocultural practices; Chapter 4 Assemblages and deviations; Chapter 5 A theoretical framework; Part II The Four Riders of the Apocalypse; Chapter 6 Cultivating waste; Chapter 7 Emergent pathogen virulence; Chapter 8 Cyberrisks; Chapter 9 Race, riots and risk; Chapter 10; Conclusion;

O autorze

Joost Van Loon is Senior Lecturer in Social Theory at the Nottingham Trent University. He is co-editor of The Risk Society and Beyond (Sage, 2000) and Trust and Co-operation (‘t Spinhuys, 2000), and co-founding editor of Space and Culture.