Reflexive Modernization

Reflexive modernization is a key concept associated with the “risk society” perspective developed by sociologist Ulrich Beck and his collaborators and commentators. Beck argues that risk has become a general organizing principle for contemporary society, spanning the domains of personal identity, interpersonal and family relationships, work, organizations, institutions, law, and politics. Technological change has been one important factor in this development, along with other aspects of the industrialization and modernization of society. Applied to concepts of green technology, Beck's ideas address questions of technology assessment, development, and adoption, technological impacts and consequences (including the problem of unintended consequences), policy, and regulation. Since their introduction in the 1980s, these ideas have been widely cited, applied, expanded, critiqued, and contested in the research literatures on risk analysis, ...