scholarly journals Ideas of Ulrich Beck: Classic Context, Modern Discussion and Possible Synthesis

In the second part of the article, the ideas of U. Beck are considered in the context of classical and modern theories. Particular attention is focused on the significance of the heritage of N. Machiavelli and I. Kant for the author of “The Risk Society”. The German sociologist proclaimed himself as machiavellist, but at the same time he often referred to I. Kant. A dilemma arises: how can political cynicism be combined with moral rigor? The article proposes its solution. U. Beck combines the ideas of N. Machiavelli and I. Kant through the concept of republicanism. The ideas of cosmopolitanism were justified by I. Kant and found development in the work of U. Beck. The article shows that Ulrich Beck's talent is an ability to contextual combinatorics. Apparently, he personally introduced a small number of concepts that became the achievement of sociology ("Second Modern", "meta-game", "meta-power"). U. Beck borrowed the rest of the concepts from other scientists and politicians and put them in his own mental context. But the works of the German sociologist were polemically directed and thereby contributed to the development of sociology. Particular attention in the article is drawn to the U. Beck’s criticism of the concept of postmodernism. The progressive shift in the problem that Beck observes in the concept of the Second Modernity is not just that he proves the continuation of Modernity, but that he establishes its processuality, qualitative changes in it. The article concludes that for the further development of sociology, a synthesis of ideas of the theory of the Second Modernity, world-system analysis, modern Marxist sociology and environmental sociology is desirable. This synthesis is unlikely to be simple. To make it possible, it is necessary to reconstruct the methodological basis of each of these areas in modern sociology.

The article reconstructed the system and method of the German sociologist Ulrich Beck. The importance of this work in the methodological situation in modern sociology is shown. This situation is due to changes in the social world and the fourth scientific revolution, which takes place in science in general. A significant part of the concepts included in the conceptual networks of various paradigms of modern sociology were formed during the second scientific revolution. In addition, sociologists, who investigate the Modernity, face the impact of unscientific circumstances, such as global threats, pressure of the ruling classes, and others. Ulrich Beck influenced world sociology with concepts of risk society, Second Modernity, cosmopolitanism. His critique of methodological nationalism is important. His call for overcoming “zombie concepts” remains valid. At the same time, the German sociologist, calling for a new utopia, saw the path to a cosmopolitan federation of states with divided sovereignty in establishing cooperation between capital, states, and civil society. He could not offer any real mechanisms for this cooperation. For progressive shifts in the problems of modernity, the synthesis of the ideas of the Second Modern, the sociology of creative Marxism, the world-systems analysis and ecological sociology can be useful. By this time, these traditions are divided by barriers of incomprehension and competition for intellectual novelty. In the theory of the Second Modern, the disadvantage is also a strong contextual dependence on the current political situation. U. Beck created his texts as comments to current processes. For ideological synthesis, it is necessary not only to recreate the course of thoughts of sociologists, but to present their ideas in the form of coherent concepts in the context of the requirements of a new methodological situation. The Second Modern and its characteristics such as Globalization can be considered as a stage in the development of the world capitalist system. The idea of a Risk Society can resonate with the development of Environmental Sociology. Criticism of neoliberalism in the sociology of creative Marxism can provide greater objectivity to the idea of cosmopolitanism. But for this, it is necessary to reconstruct the conceptual series of these research directions, their methodological guidelines in connection with the philosophical foundations of their metasociological knowledge.


Author(s):  
Irena Carpentier Reifova ◽  
Sylvie Fišerová

This article proposes a theoretical framework for studying new media and its use by elderly people in risk society. Old people and their practices of new media use are discussed in light of the concepts of age cohort, generation and media generation. The article detects homology between individualization (a backbone of the second modernity as defined by Ulrich Beck) in the management of new risks and operation of new media language. Consequently, the concept of “double individualization of responsibility” is coined and connection is made to the effects of new media and new risks on ontological security. The argument is taken further onto the ground of critical gerontology, which claims that individual decision-making and fluidity of the second modernity is a source of insecurity and anxiety mainly for the old people. The article eventually presents the area of e-health as a research field for further exploration of how old people experience autonomy, individual decision making, and the absence of (or conflict with) external authority while dealing with the health risks on-line.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-86
Author(s):  
V.E. BAGDASARYAN ◽  
◽  

The purpose of the article is to present an analysis of modern global political processes characterized by the unipolarity of the destruction of the former world system. The current situation of political transit is assessed as a failure of technologies of controlled chaos and transition to a state of turbulence. The basic approach of the research was the methodology of world-systems analysis. The article provides arguments that substantiate the systemic nature of the crisis of the World Center, the problematic nature of the restoration of the unipolar system of the world order. Four scenario perspectives of further development of the world political process are considered: 1. restoration of the leadership legitimacy of the World Center; 2. change of the core of the world system; 3. transition of a state of chaos to a global catastrophe; 4. the establishment of a system of a multilateral world of civilizations. It is indicated that the West-centered world-system has paradoxically diverged at some stage from the values of the Western civilization itself. And it is obvious that the transition to a multilateral world should be linked to the basic civilizational values of the world-systems, their differences from the values of other communities. As a result, practical recommendations are presented for the activity steps of building a system of multilateral world order as a desirable prospect for overcoming the state of turbulence and preventing a new geopolitical hegemony.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 00045
Author(s):  
Elena Kasianenko ◽  
Evgenii Konnikov ◽  
Nikita Lukashevich

The definition of effective improvement vectors is currently one of the most pressing challenges facing the industry representatives. The transition to the sixth technological mode effectively contributes to competition intensification in all markets of industrial products. This is largely due to the fact that existing process systems are at the peak of their effectiveness. Further development requires qualitative changes. However, the principal improvement is a long-term and high-risk process. For this reason the issue of creating effective models for assessment of the strategic lines of processes improvement becomes increasingly important for industrial enterprises. This article considers in details the vector of industrial enterprise processes improvement based on the integration of new materials. As a result, a model allowing to assess a perspectives level for integration of new materials in industrial enterprise processes is created.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf Lidskog ◽  
Göran Sundqvist

What is environmental expertise? The background to this question is that many scholars consider environmental expertise crucial for discovering, diagnosing, and solving environmental problems but do not discuss in any depth what constitutes expertise. By investigating the meaning and use of the concept of expertise in three general theories within environmental sociology—the treadmill of production, risk society, and ecological modernization— and findings from science and technology studies (STS), this article develops a sociological understanding of environmental expertise: what it is and how it is acquired. Environmental expertise is namely about group belonging and professional socialization around specialized skills; that is, it concerns both substantial competence and social recognition. The implications of this general view on expertise are then used to enrich theories in environmental sociology.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (Vol 19, No 3 (2020)) ◽  
pp. 395-408
Author(s):  
Oleksandr SHAROV

Author defines monetary globalization and examines the historical process of spreading money and cash nexus across the globe. It is stated that money developed almost simultaneously in three great civilizations (Europe, India, China), but over time the Hellenistic form of money absorbed and universalized all other forms of money. The author examines in detail the process of distribution of metallic and then credit form of money and their impact on economic globalization. All these processes occurring both in the markets of separate countries or small regions and at the international level (where money started to act as global currency almost immediately after its appearance) constitute the essence of the monetary globalization. The author dwells on the post-Bretton Woods period of development of the World Monetary System, believing that the extensive phase of monetary globalization has come to an end at this stage and its further development will be caused by fundamental qualitative changes.


Author(s):  
Pierre Delvenne ◽  
Pablo Kreimer
Keyword(s):  

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