Anxiety in a Risk SocietyFew would dispute that we are living at a time of high anxiety and uncertainty in which many of us will experience a crisis of identity at some point or another. At the same time, news media provide us with a daily catalogue of disasters from around the globe to remind us that we inhabit a world of crisis, insecurity and hazard. Anxiety in a Risk Society : looks at the problem of contemporary anxiety from a sociological perspective highlights its significance for the ways we make sense of risk and uncertainty argues that the relationship between anxiety and risk hinges on the nature of anxiety. Iain Wilkinson believes that there is much for sociologists to learn from those who have made the condition of anxiety the focus of their life's work. By making anxiety the focus of sociological inquiry, a critical vantage point can be gained from which to attempt an answer to the question: Are we more anxious because we are more risk conscious? This is an original and thought-provoking contribution to the understanding of late modernity as a risk society. |
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Accordingly alert analysis Anthony Giddens appears argues assessments attempt become behaviour conceived concept of risk conception of anxiety condition of anxiety consider context contrasting critical danger David Smail disorder Douglas emotional emphasis emphasise the extent Erich Fromm experience of anxiety explain fact fear feelings François Ewald Freud Fromm future Giddens hazards high anxiety highlight the extent Horney human ibid ical identify inclined individual insecurity insofar Karen Horney knowledge of risk language of risk large numbers liable lives majority Mary Douglas mass media meaning of risk media messages Mirowsky and Ross modern societies moral Moreover particular political possible problem of anxiety psychological public debate reality recognise risk consciousness risk society risk-anxiety relationship sense significance of risk Smail social conditions social distribution sociological imagination sociologists structure suggest symptoms of distress task of coping Thoits threat tion Ulrich Beck uncertainty understanding understood vulnerability to anxiety Wilkinson women