World+Risk+Society

Note: My version of Lemert's book doesn't have an excerpt from this, so I'm summarizing the introductory chapter for you.
 * =Title - World Risk Society: Introduction: The Cosmopolitan Manifesto= ||  ||
 * =Author - Ulrich Beck= ||  ||
 * =Date - 1999= ||  ||
 * =Summary By - Kate= ||  ||
 * =Summary=

Beck distinguishes between a "first modernity" (which was relatively great and stable though characterized by exploitation of nature and inequality) and a "second modernity" (which is dealing with changes that must be managed collectively, in part to clean up from the "first modernity" as global consequences effect everybody)

The second modernity was kicked into action as the first was undermined by "globalization, individualization, gender revolution, underemployment, and global risks" (2).

The first/third world distinction will no longer be as legitimate since we're all moving towards third world modernities.We need a new "earth politics" with transnational movement of cross-cutting issues that can mobilize diverse populations to collaborate on tackling shared problems - from environmental degradation, to labor laws, to feminism.

Though risk effects pretty much everything, his focus in this book is on ecological and technical notions of risk and their sociological and political implications.

We also need a political economy of uncertainty that will recognize (1) power play between territorial and non-territorial economic actors; (2) different roles for states between taking care of their populations at the expense of employment and allowing poverty in the interest of employment (boo US); (3) work society is done because technology is taking everything over; (4) everything that security is based on (employment, job security, pensions) is all going to fall like dominoes; (5) we need new strategies beyond orthodox defensive ones.

State structures are weakening, and this means (on the negative side) state collapse, and (on the positive side) Western military humanism and the enforcement of human rights globally... {hmmm... }

So the point is that we need a cosmopolitan consciousness that will bring us all together across state boundaries to deal with the mess we've made and to manage the huge catastrophic looming risks in our future. Final sentence of chapter 1: "Citizens of the world, unite!" ||  ||
 * =Discussion points=

Can discussions of "future risks" really mean anything practical since we don't know what's coming? ||  || = = = = = = = = = = = =

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