The risk issue is directly related to the rapid industrialization and unpredictable unintentional consequences of modernization. Risk is the result of modernization and industrialization. Ulrich Beck says that the process of industrialization increases the complexity of social relations and systems - this leads to an increase in the number of unintended consequences of social action.
These threatening risks go beyond the control not only of individuals but also of large social organizations (including the state).Risks arise not from mistakes but from the complication of society - they can no longer be controlled. And the inevitability of avoiding these risks calls into question human ontological safety. Ie. under threat is not the individual existence of man, but the human race (or at least large enough masses of people)."The risk can be defined as the systematic interaction of society with the threats and dangers induced and derived from the modernization processes. The risks, unlike the dangers of past epochs, are the consequences of the threatening power of modernization. "
The risk society according to Ulrich Beck produces technological and social risks. For example, the risk arising from a financial crisis; technological crises - such as the nuclear power plant in the USSR with disrupted processes, triggering an effect affecting millions of people.A specific feature of modern society is that it is about risks that are becoming more and more invisible. "Dangerous reality today is concealed by perceptions." These risks are also hidden in everyday, common consciousness (for example, genetically modified foods that, without feeling, would be effective after one or more generations).
Here is the special role of the experts and the expert consciousness, which is able to predict the risks. The expert monopolizes the right to determine the risk and its probability. The consequences of monopolism in expert knowledge are such that knowledge in modern society acquires new political significance. Because it's about things that affect the lives, health and interests of millions of people.Expert opinion at the same time is characterized by its pluralism, ie. for the really big and important issues there is no single opinion. And there is no undisputed authority.
The specificity of the risks is that they are globalizing. These are risks that overcome the borders of the state, acquire global significance. There is no country that is invulnerable, ie. be guaranteed by no risk, irrespective of the degree of development.Ecogenic catastrophes and industrial accidents affect both the country and the countries around it - their economy, ecology, politics, and so on.Increased risk intensity, ie. the risk of events with very large (ecological) consequences increases.