Late moder era theorists

Question 1

Giddens : In a late modern society, there have been changes to social interactions and social choice

Answer 1

• Social change is a feature of modern society and confirms we haven’t completely left modernity behind
• 2 changes have lead us in to an era of late modernity
  1. Social interactions have been disembedded and interactions have become less personal due to technology
  2. People are more reflexive so have greater freedom to evaluate and adjust their life choices - traditional influences have become less powerful so has freedom to pursue their own gaols
• these two features have lead to growth of instability and risk

Question 2

Evaluation of late modern society, there have been changes to social interactions and social choice

Answer 2

• Exaggerates the extent to which people have freedom

- Some people are restricted by traditional influences

Question 3

Beck : Late modern society has made more man made risks

Answer 3

• Late modern society faced new dangers (vast majority of threats to our safety are human made)
• Reflexive modernisation (people constantly have to constantly evaluate the risks and plan methods leading to the development of risk consciousness eg risks to our health)
• Those who work in politics should also apply reflexive modernisation (wider society)
• Optimistic that those in power will use their reflexivity in order to assess global risks and minimise impact

Question 4

Evaluation that late modern society has made more man made risks

Answer 4

• Criticised by marxists who claim he ignores the biggest risk (capitalism)
• There will always be conflict of interests and there is only so much that can be done
• Movements like environmentalism can only have so much impact