ACCTG 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Ulrich Beck, Risk Society, Compassion Fatigue
WEEK 3
Media and (the politics of) climate change & humanitarianism
What qualifies as risks/problems/challange in today society?
- Example: hate speech, radicalism…
- We perceive certain threats as riskier than others.
- Climate change:
o Climate change has been mocked and called ‘fraud’
o Burden of proof: different from terrorism, climate change’s proof relies on climate
scientists
- Ulrich Beck: ‘risk society’
+ Risk society: a systematic way of dealing with hazards and insecurities induced and
introduced by modernization itself.
+ Modern society is structured around and affected by risks, invisible/undetectable
risks that are universal. Risks are not discriminated (by class or wealth) and are
irreversible. (pollution, disasters, climate change, financial crises…).
+ We live in a ‘risk society’: contemporary obsession with calculating and avoiding
future danger, giving worth to probability and accountability (ex: you can say sth if
you suspect your neighbor of terrorism).
+ But is there any empirical evidence of these risks, waiting to be dealt with?
+ Ulrich: we are living in a world where we are so ‘successful’ that it undermines the
global risks.
- Risk is a discursive construct:
o Institutions have an interest in constructing certain things as ‘risky’
+ behaviours that do not foster responsibility
+ behaviours that warrant surveillance and control
+ behaviours that go against the current division of power
+
Media can (re)produce something as risky/non-risky
How is climate change communicated?
- By politics/government
- By NGOs
Document Summary
Media and (the politics of) climate change & humanitarianism. We perceive certain threats as riskier than others. Climate change: climate change has been mocked and called fraud", burden of proof: different from terrorism, climate change"s proof relies on climate scientists. + risk society: a systematic way of dealing with hazards and insecurities induced and introduced by modernization itself. + modern society is structured around and affected by risks, invisible/undetectable risks that are universal. Risks are not discriminated (by class or wealth) and are irreversible. (pollution, disasters, climate change, financial crises ). + we live in a risk society": contemporary obsession with calculating and avoiding future danger, giving worth to probability and accountability (ex: you can say sth if you suspect your neighbor of terrorism). + ulrich: we are living in a world where we are so successful" that it undermines the global risks. Risk is a discursive construct: institutions have an interest in constructing certain things as risky".
