Social theories of risk

As a cultural movement, the Enlightenment can be viewed as a significant driver in both the development of techniques for probabilistically considering future outcomes and a shift in dominant perspectives regarding the amenability of the future to human planning and control. The refinement of mathematical approaches towards future uncertainties was accompanied by a transition from perceiving the future as lying in ‘God’s hands’ towards an increasing faith in human-made technologies. Yet while technological developments have brought an increasing number of domains under the auspices of measurement, planning and probabilistic prediction, so has the intractability of uncertainty and the limits of control have become ever more evident. The focus of this chapter is on recent theories of risk and uncertainty within the domains of sociology and anthropology. All share certain preoccupations with one another, though the nature of risk, the position of experts in relation to experiences of risk and the novelty attributed to these configurations differ greatly.