Governing environmental harms in a risk society

The definition and governing of environmental harms has emerged as a key site of controversy in recent sociological writing (see Adam and Van Loon, 2000). Ulrich Beck’s Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity has become a touchstone for many of those engaging with these issues. The original text, published in German as Riskiogesellschaft, developed a theory that moves beyond a description of risk to trace the contours of an altered modernity – a risk society. Beck is credited with developing a “highly original formulation of the theory of risk” which is more sophisticated in its application than other sociological approaches (Elliot, 2002: 299; see also Adam and Van Loon, 2000; Irwin, 2001). Nevertheless, his work has been the subject of considerable debate, and has highlighted ongoing tensions between so-called ‘realist’ and ‘social constructionist’ perspectives on the definition and governing of risk.