230077 VO Risk and Society (2009S)

Ideas about risk can seem complex, inaccessible and seemingly unrelated to life in the social world. This set of lectures will examine the theoretical debates around risk. Concepts of positive and negative risk, danger and fear will also be examined. More substantively risk will be examined with respect to everyday lived experience including aspects of health, crime, employment education, welfare and the portrayal of risk in the media. I will also examine the way in which the notion of risk has impacted on the development of policies in the UK since 1997.
The relationship between risk, terrorism, human rights and international law post 9/11 will also be examined. It will be argued that there is no consensus as to what constitutes risk and that a new model citizenship has emerged based upon the ability of individual citizens to engage with risk constructively.