DSOC 25A25 - Sociology of Risk and Uncertainty

At least since the 1980s, risk and its forms of calculation and management have been gaining ground as a relevant topic in the social sciences, which crosses different empirical approaches that include, for example, disasters and natural catastrophes, services and financial markets, to security policies and technologies. This course seeks to introduce students to the sociology of risk and offer a brief overview of the consolidation of this field of study and its main theoretical references, as well as exploring the issues, concepts and methodologies raised by the literature. The course is divided into three parts. First, we will start with a brief review of the two classic approaches of sociology and anthropology, namely, respectively, the theory of risk society (Beck, 1992 [1986]) and the theory of cultural risk perception (Douglas and Widalvsky, 1983). Next, we will discuss some of the main contributions of governmentality studies to the development of research on risk governance technologies (Burchell, Gordon and Miller, 1991; O'Malley, 2009). While these three currents are more focused on ways of controlling and reducing dangers, threats and risks, in the third part, we will discuss studies that show the positivity of risk and uncertainty in the liberal tradition and the growing demand for “assuming” and “taking risks” in contemporary financial capitalism (Baker and Simon, 2010). Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to use the concepts learned as analytical tools for building a sociological understanding of contemporary empirical facts.

Throughout the course, students will be required to carry out individual and group short exercises (3 exercises, 50%). They are required to produce the texts based on the weekly bibliography of the course and the analysis of empirical cases. Students, also, will be requested to deliver a final essay (40%) at the last class. The work will be individual and they will need to respond discursively to questions previously prepared by me based on the course content and some of the empirical cases brought in classes.

The engagement in readings and debates will be included in the final mark 10%