Beyond existential and neoliberal explanations of consumers’ embodied risk-taking: CrossFit as an articulation of reflexive modernization

This study analyzes CrossFit as a marketplace culture that articulates several key dimensions of reflexive modernization. Through this analysis, we illuminate a different set of theoretical relationships than have been addressed by previous accounts of physically challenging, risk-taking consumption practices. To provide analytic clarity, we first delineate the key differences between reflexive modernization and the two interpretive frameworks—the existential and neoliberal models—that have framed prior explanations of consumers’ proactive risk-taking. We then explicate the ways in which CrossFit’s marketplace culture shapes consumers’ normative understandings of risk and their corresponding identity goals. Rather than combatting modernist disenchantment (i.e., the existential model) or building human capital for entrepreneurial competitions (i.e., the neoliberal model), CrossFit enthusiasts understand risk-taking as a means to build their preparatory fitness for unknown contingencies and imminent threats. Our analysis bridges a theoretical chasm between studies analyzing consumers’ proactive risk-taking behavior and those addressing the feelings of anxiety and uncertainty induced by the threat of uncontrollable systemic risks.

Science as a Value of Risk Society

In the article, the issue of the relationship between science and the sphere of cultural values is considered in two mutually correlated aspects. First, it reveals the ambivalent status of science as the most important social institution in a modern dynamically transforming society, which, in accordance with the very popular metaphor of U. Beck, is increasingly called the “risk society.” Secondly, the problem of sociocultural determination of scientific knowledge is interpreted as a problem of the axiology of science. At the same time, the relationship between social and intrascientific (cognitive) values is examined through the prism of possible forms and mechanisms of their philosophical and methodological representation. The author examines the specificity of pre-requisite knowledge, especially in the form as the metatheoretical foundations of scientific research is revealed. The article reveals the ambivalent nature of the value status of science in the context of changing socio-cultural priorities of the industrial civilization, against the background of a brief reconstruction of the main ideas of U. Beck’s concept of reflexive modernization, the theory of risk-generating development of science and high technologies by G. Bechmann, Z. Bauman’s idea about sociocultural imbalance as an essential characteristic of “individualized society.” The specificity of the value determination of scientific knowledge is considered in the context of substantiating the sociocognitive approach as the most important result of the philosophical and methodological research in the 20th century. Within the framework of this approach, two alternative strategies are distinguished, for using social and cognitive values as specific forms of prerequisite knowledge. One of the strategies is focused on development of conceptual foundations of science and rationally grounded metatheoretical structures (V.S. Stepin). The second strategy gives preference to non-conceptual (pre-conceptual) forms of background knowledge as productive metaphors that perform the functions of methodological heuristics and the integration of scientific knowledge into culture (M. Foucault, L. Laudan, et al.). The article concludes that there is the peculiar bifunctionality of the cultural valuein relation to science. On the one hand, science itself is a fundamental value in modern culture, although its impact on social life is ambivalent. On the other hand, the dominant values of risk society influence the formation of a new image of science and its methodological tools.

Research and Scientific Advice in the Second Modernity: Technology Assessment, Responsible Research and Innovation, and Sustainability Research

The scientific and technological advance has been a major driving force of modernization for centuries. However, the 20th century was full of indications and diagnoses of a deep crisis of modernity. Currently, debates on limits to growth, pollution, and climate change indicate the serious and threatening lack of sustainability of the so-called ‘first modernity’. This crisis of modernity has motivated scholars to develop concepts of modernizing modernity, with the approach of a ‘reflexive modernization’ to reach a ‘second modernity’ being prominent. In this paper, Technology Assessment (TA), Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), and Sustainability Research (SR) are regarded as manifestations of this reflexive modernization in the field of problem-oriented and transformative research. The paper aims to (a) unfold the hypothesis regarding TA, RRI, and SR as scientific approaches within reflexive modernization, (b) clarify the respective meaning of ‘reflexive’ in these approaches, (c) identify commonalities as well as differences between the three approaches, and (d) draw conclusions for the relation and further development of TA, RRI, and SR.

National Mentality and Risks of the Transformation of Belarusian Society

The article analyzes the socio-cultural risks of the modernization of Belarusian society as well as the opportunities to minimize these through communication mechanisms of cultural tradition. Since in the postmodern conditions social transformation takes the form of a “reflexive” modernization, its inherent risks should be considered as closely linked with globalization of culture, in particular, with glocalization, pluralization of social identity, hybridization of cultural traditions, fragmentation of the “lifeworld” and of the nation’s historical memory. The author considers various levels of the structure of cultural tradition, paying special attention to the national mentality as its basic layer. The goal of this paper is to show how the specific features of Belarusian mentality become sources of risk and to reveal the role of cultural traditions in preventing or reducing such risks. Analyzing different strategies for constructing the national identity, the author defines the vulnerabilities involved. It argues that the formation of modern forms of national identity in Belarusian society is due to interaction of at least two identification models: the “strong” and “weak” ones. By analyzing the specifics of the “strong” national identity of Belarusians, the author notes that its poles – the nationalist and the patriotic ones – are largely compatible and do not respond to the most urgent challenges. On the contrary, the model of a “weak” identity has a high capacity to adapt to the conditions of “reflexive” modernization. This model is implemented in the process of constructing a pluralistic civic identity of Belarusians, but it has potential risks, especially in conditions of geopolitical turbulence and external pressure on Belarusian society. A reflexive attitude to the past is considered a possibility to minimize such risks, to avoid or to limit potential adverse impacts of social mobilization or national identity construction. It is emphasized that discussions about the past should be carried out in the form of a dialogue that meets the rules and requirements of communicative rationality.

The Closing Educational Gap in E-privacy Management in European Perspective

Educational gaps are increasingly salient as skills and knowledge gain prominence in digital societies. E-privacy management, namely, the ability to control the flow of information about the self, is an important asset nowadays, since a skillful use of digital technologies enables full participation in social life and limits the exposure to unwarranted algorithmic processes. We investigate whether and why education affects e-privacy management, and whether the educational gaps vary following a country’s degree of digitalization. We empirically test two sets of mechanisms, one derived from the digital divide and diffusion of innovations theories and the other from the reflexive modernization theory. The study employs Eurobarometer 87.1 data ( N = 21,177), collected in 2017 among representative samples from 28 European countries, and uses multilevel linear regression model. Findings suggest that the years spent in education positively affect e-privacy management, and that this effect is largely mediated by digital skills and Internet use, and to a lesser extent by a reflexive mind-set. The educational gap in e-privacy management narrows in more digitalized countries.

The Body Politic: Planning History, Design, and Public Health

Guest editor Stephen J. Ramos introduces the special issue, themed “The Body Politic: Planning History, Design, and Public Health.” The issue has five contributions from Australia, South Africa, Northern Europe, and the United States. Throughout its history, planning is continually tasked with both modernization and reflexive modernization simultaneously. The duality serves as an instrument of the state in the broader governance negotiation of private capital accumulation and public welfare. The contemporary COVID-19 pandemic provides the opportunity to reconsider relationships between planning, design, and public health, and the politics and policies that constitute and mediate these relationships. The hope is for the special issue to inspire empathy for a more civic, international body politic.

"EXTREME" LEGAL REGULATION LIKE NEW PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGEMENT MODEL

Legal regulation of public relations has undergone major changes over the past two decades. In the last few years, the trend towards its transformation – «reflexive modernization» – has not only been preserved, but has intensified many times over, making it possible to raise the question of the purposeful formation of a model of emergency management of society. Uncertainty, risk (both real and possible), danger, anxiety and fear as a normal state form the basis of the need for special (exceptional or extraordinary) legal regulation on an ongoing basis, gradually changing society from its psychology to the specific actions of each person. Giving legitimacy to the ongoing processes, the law itself changes in accordance with them, more and more straying to the level of emergency, the reflexive nature of which today is beyond doubt. A state of temporal uncertainty is considered as an indispensable condition for development of a new model of the state management on which literally everything depends. Public relations are exposed to broad correction which is easily carried out under some kind of extraordinary, exceptional, urgent, not requiring additional justi-fications.As a result, what for some time seemed to be the subject of works of the fantastic genre is now becoming an everyday reality, allowing us to talk about a new paradigm of legal regulation

Theory of Reflective Modernization as a support for reading Sports and Leisure Public Policies

The text aims to present some of the potential analytical contributions that Ulrich Beck's theory of reflexive modernization offers to carry out the reading of public policies on sport and leisure in Brazil. Along this path, the emergence of a cosmopolitan realpolitik and meta-games of powers that are increasingly active and decisive on a global scale is considered in order to suggest an analytical design that not only seeks to overcome the borders of the Nation-State but also invests in reflective dimensions of the different actors involved in global political making. With regard to methodological aspects, this is a theoretical article that presents a critical perspective and new hypothetical elements for investigations in the field of sports and leisure policies. For that, we started from the literature and used documents and statistical data as empirical sources for the inferences of the presented assumptions. In this logic, it was possible to show that the sports and leisure policy in Brazil has historically gone through a process of structural reorganization combined with a process of radicalization of modernity in the expansion of the participation of the third sector in the promotion of actions in this area, which caused reflexivity among the actors entangled in this process. Finally, when considering the new dynamics of public sports policy in Brazil, it appears that the theory of reflexive modernization presents itself as a significant theoretical contribution to understanding the current reality.

Dialectics of Complexity: A Five-Country Examination of Lived Experiences on Social Media

This study examined people’s lived experiences with social media through 10 focus groups with 82 total participants across five countries: Brazil, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa, and the United States. Findings demonstrate that social media make people’s lives less complex, but this belies heightened complexity as they negotiate three paradoxes when using social media. We describe these as dialectics between: convenience versus privacy, trust versus distrust, and meaningful versus wasted time. These dialectics fit into one over-arching theme that social media make people feel better but also worse, sometimes at the same time. We characterize these experiences as negative—and likely unintended—side effects of reflexive modernization. According to our participants, these tensions leave people in a sort of existential limbo—knowing social media can distress them but not always having the will to leave.

Ulrich Beck: E-Special Introduction

This e-special issue of Theory, Culture & Society showcases work published in the journal by and about the late German sociologist Ulrich Beck (1944–2015). Beck became known as a pioneering and inventive thinker, continuously engaged in a quest to capture the essence of the modern age, whilst simultaneously wrestling with the upcoming horizons of the future. During his career, he was responsible for developing some of the defining sociological concepts of the late 20th and early 21st century, including risk, reflexive modernization, individualization and cosmopolitanism. He published many articles in Theory, Culture & Society, inspiring acolytes to mobilize his ideas and provoking critics to dispute them. Complementing articles written by Beck, this collection also includes critical commentaries, applications of his work, a selection of interviews and several reflective pieces which consider his legacy. The key aspiration of this special issue is to encourage contemplation on both the richness and the range of Ulrich Beck’s academic contribution. The contents stimulate reflection on the intricacies of Beck’s method of inquiry and flag up ways in which his work can influence the future trajectory of social theory.