Risk and Technological Culture: Towards a Sociology of Virulence

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Routledge, Jan 11, 2013 - Social Science - 248 pages
The question as to whether we are now entering a risk society has become a key debate in contemporary social theory. Risk and Technological Culture presents a critical discussion of the main theories of risk from Ulrich Becks foundational work to that of his contemporaries such as Anthony Giddens and Scott Lash and assesses the extent to which risk has impacted on modern societies. In this discussion van Loon demonstrates how new technologies are transforming the character of risk and examines the relationship between technological culture and society through substantive chapters on topics such as waste, emerging viruses, communication technologies and urban disorders. In so doing this innovative new book extends the debate to encompass theorists such as Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari and Jean-François Lyotard.
 

Contents

Technological culture and risk
1
PART I Theoretical framework
17
PART II The Four Riders of the Apocalypse
103
Notes
206
References
212
Index
227
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About the author (2013)

Joost Van Loon is Senior Lecturer in Social Theory at the Nottingham Trent University. He is co-editor of The Risk Society and Beyond (Sage, 2000) and Trust and Co-operation (‘t Spinhuys, 2000), and co-founding editor of Space and Culture.

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