Reflexive Modernization Research Articles

Reflexive Green Nationalism (RGN): A sociological antidote to the climate crisis?

What can theories of nationalism and the nation-state tell us about climate change? Much of the available literature, including works by prominent thinkers Ulrich Beck and Bruno Latour, identify it as a collective global challenge rather than a local and national one. But is it really so? This article develops an original theoretical framework integrating the theory of “reflexive modernity”, theories of nationalism, and case studies of green nation-states. The goal is to change the observation point and search for original solutions to the climate crisis. Building on this theoretical framework, this study puts forward the following claims: (1) climate change is undeniably a global phenomenon, but its causes are national. It can be traced back to a small number of top polluting nation-states (the US, China, Russia, India, Japan and EU28) whose historical share of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, the main cause for global warming, surpasses 74%; (2) Most of these nation-states are entrenched in Resource Nationalism (RN), a form of nationalism that sees the environment as a resource to exploit; (3) there exist forms of sustainable nationalism, which this study conceptualizes as Reflexive Green Nationalism (RGN); (4) the solution to climate change is local rather than global. It depends on top polluters' capacity to re-modernize and develop RGN; and (5) according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, if emissions are not reduced by 43% by 2030, the world is likely to cross the tipping point into a global climate catastrophe. Therefore, updating these nation-states and their ideology to more sustainable forms is humanity's best shot at halting the climate crisis.

Types of Rationality in Discourses on Work in (Post)Transformation Poland

Rationality is the key concept for understanding the reproduction of social life in the era of reflexive modernization. A fusion of lessons learned from the constructivist view of the world and anal­ysis of the hermeneutic category of pre-understanding has become the basis of my belief that rationality is nowadays the basic modal concept, and the forms of its existence shape the order of social life. In my research practice, rationality has become a link between my interest in work and the theory of social order development. In this paper, I briefly present the relations between the notion of rationality and the theory of reflexive modernization. Then, I present my research path and the tools used in the analyses. The most important part is devoted to the effects of the conducted research. I classify and describe the types of rationality present in discourses on work in Poland. The discourses of politicians, experts, and the so-called “ordinary people” were analyzed.

Switch on the Big Brother! Investigating the educational gradients in acceptance of online and public areas surveillance among European citizens

ABSTRACT In this study, we investigate whether, and why, individuals express different levels of acceptance of surveillance depending on their educational level, and whether this relationship varies with the level of digitalization and globalization expansion of their country. Additionally, we ask whether the type of surveillance (online surveillance vs cameras in public areas) conditions these differences. We build on two theoretical frameworks, one concerned with the resurgence of authoritarian values via the cultural backlash, and the other one explaining how different people analyse manufactured risks differently due to processes of reflexive modernization. In order to test the hypotheses, we employ data from the latest wave of the European Values Study (EVS) and implement multilevel multivariate regression models. Findings indicate that the lower educated individuals are more prone to accept online surveillance, due to their stronger authoritarianism and weaker reflexive mindset; however, there is no educational gradient in acceptance of video surveillance in public areas. Additionally, the countries’ levels of digitalization and globalization expansion do not condition the educational gradient in acceptance of surveillance.

THE ROLE OF THE HUMAN FACTOR IN THE PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM UNDER THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION CONDITIONS

Modern conditions are characterized by an increase in the processes of digital transformation in all spheres of public life. It seems promising to use the latest software solutions to optimize personnel management processes. Automated HRM systems are able to minimize or eliminate erroneous actions due to the influence of the human factor at a large manufacturing enterprise, such as AO “OMZ” (JTS “OMP”). As a result of a series of interviews, questionnaires and analysis of personnel statistics, it was revealed that erroneous actions are associated with irrationality of backup copy, "disappearance" of documents, downtime due to incorrect database management. Psychological reasons of erroneous actions of employees are fixed. It is proposed to reduce the costs associated with the elimination of the consequences of these actions. At the same time, it does not mean full automation of communication processes in the organization. It is concluded that the distribution of functions in the man-machine-environment system should be dynamic with the ability to consciously adjust the degree of automation. Today, it is reflexive modernization that is in demand. Conscious modernity requires a personal self-identify, to develop an attitude to the social environment, the industrial environment, the objective world. The self-reflection on the personal place and role in the ongoing innovations is needed. It is extremely important to preserve the becoming fragile human relationships and the genuinely human manifestations.

ЭПИЧЕСКАЯ ПОЭМА «КАЛЕВАЛА» И ТРАДИЦИЯ РУНОПЕНИЯ В ДИСКУРСЕ НАСЛЕДИЯ И ПРАКТИКАХ ЕГО СОХРАНЕНИЯ

The article focuses on the epic poem “Kalevala” compiled by E. Lönnroth on the basis of collected folklore texts, and on its “primary source” — the tradition of runosong — in the context of politics and practices of intangible heritage safeguarding in Finland and the Republic of Karelia (Russian). The author problematizes the relationship between ethnic identification and objects of folklore heritage, as well as examines the behavior patterns of various actors in the process of its safeguarding and (re)production. The case of “Kalevala” and runosong is considered in the theoretical framework proposed by L. Smith, according to which heritage can be described as a process of stakeholders’ interaction on three levels: institutional (for example, researchers and national policy actors), public (professional and ethnic communities and their organizations) and individual (activists). This research combines three areas: heritage studies, ethnic identity studies, and the politics of memory through folklore. The article is based on interviews collected during fieldwork in Helsinki (Finland) and Petrozavodsk (Republic of Karelia, Russia), as well as on available public Internet resources. By means of the different practices’ examples of interaction with the Kalevala and the rune singing (publishing of songs, their performance, public organizations’ work, etc.) the author examines the process that L. Smith calls “the work of heritage”. The author concludes that heritage in the framework of these examples can be considered as a certain “value industry” that reflects the tendencies of reflexive modernization of society. In this connection, heritage can often become a part of the process of “cultural extractivism” for the economic, political and other spheres.

Revalorization of Industrial Heritage in Urban Agglomeration: the Case of Greater Ekaterinburg

The paper is focused on the problem of industrial heritage preservation and use in the cities forming Ekaterinburg agglomeration. Based on the concept of reflexive modernity, the authors emphasize the relevance of a systematic and multidisciplinary approach to the heritage related work, the dominance of human values and meanings over exclusively economic ones, the need to find the unique essence of each individual object that was once part of the global industrialization process. Processes of the industrial heritage revalorization in Greater Ekaterinburg are analyzed in the context of the transition from conservation to the actualization and rehabilitation of heritage. The study confirms that the success of the implemented solutions for the revitalization of former production sites directly correlates with their scale and complexity. The transition from the discreteness of isolated projects to environmental solutions multiplies the possibilities of revalorizing industrial objects, many of which are still underestimated in public consciousness. Using specific examples, the study characterizes the history and structure of the industrial heritage of Greater Ekaterinburg, focuses on the invariance of the core of the city-plants of the Urals and the peculiarities of the settlement system, presents the genesis and current state of projects for the revalorization of the industrial heritage in Ekaterinburg and the surrounding historical industrial centers.

HIROSE Hiroko （eds.）, Theory on Curriculum, School and Educational Governance: How Reflexive Modernity Functions at its Globalization Stage

HIROSE Hiroko （eds.）, Theory on Curriculum, School and Educational Governance: How Reflexive Modernity Functions at its Globalization Stage

Beyond existential and neoliberal explanations of consumers’ embodied risk-taking: CrossFit as an articulation of reflexive modernization

This study analyzes CrossFit as a marketplace culture that articulates several key dimensions of reflexive modernization. Through this analysis, we illuminate a different set of theoretical relationships than have been addressed by previous accounts of physically challenging, risk-taking consumption practices. To provide analytic clarity, we first delineate the key differences between reflexive modernization and the two interpretive frameworks—the existential and neoliberal models—that have framed prior explanations of consumers’ proactive risk-taking. We then explicate the ways in which CrossFit’s marketplace culture shapes consumers’ normative understandings of risk and their corresponding identity goals. Rather than combatting modernist disenchantment (i.e., the existential model) or building human capital for entrepreneurial competitions (i.e., the neoliberal model), CrossFit enthusiasts understand risk-taking as a means to build their preparatory fitness for unknown contingencies and imminent threats. Our analysis bridges a theoretical chasm between studies analyzing consumers’ proactive risk-taking behavior and those addressing the feelings of anxiety and uncertainty induced by the threat of uncontrollable systemic risks.

Economics as the scientization of politics

This paper uses Beck's concept of reflexive modernity, and a Foucauldian approach, to critique the positivist philosophy associated with contemporary conventional economics, and to show its inadequacy for the environmental emergency. The paper suggests economics is not neutral but performs an ideological function in justifying the political and social order. Economics can be deconstructed by tracing its history, thereby laying bare its philosophical and political roots. The environmental debate repeats past debates of the 1920s and 30s. By employing the 'subjugated' institutional economics approaches economics can be redefined, and the path to a truly Green New Deal can be unearthed.

Reflexive Identity Construction in South Asian American Diaspora in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake

Cultural identity in contemporary diasporic communities is dynamic, multifaceted, and cyclical. In the age of reflexive modernity, it is imperative to think about new ways of conceptualizing the experience of individuals straddling multiple geographies. A model of identity for such individuals should not only explain the plurality of “being” but also the fluidity of “becoming.” In this article, the question of multiple and shifting identities of the four main characters in Jhumpa Lahiri’s intergenerational novel, The Namesake, is explored using an interdisciplinary model from the field of business management based on Giddens’ theorization of reflexivity. The inward reflexive relationship between the “self” and the “other” through the discursive articulation of the ontological journey of the novel’s characters highlights the complex nature of diasporic identity construction.

Science as a Value of Risk Society

In the article, the issue of the relationship between science and the sphere of cultural values is considered in two mutually correlated aspects. First, it reveals the ambivalent status of science as the most important social institution in a modern dynamically transforming society, which, in accordance with the very popular metaphor of U. Beck, is increasingly called the “risk society.” Secondly, the problem of sociocultural determination of scientific knowledge is interpreted as a problem of the axiology of science. At the same time, the relationship between social and intrascientific (cognitive) values is examined through the prism of possible forms and mechanisms of their philosophical and methodological representation. The author examines the specificity of pre-requisite knowledge, especially in the form as the metatheoretical foundations of scientific research is revealed. The article reveals the ambivalent nature of the value status of science in the context of changing socio-cultural priorities of the industrial civilization, against the background of a brief reconstruction of the main ideas of U. Beck’s concept of reflexive modernization, the theory of risk-generating development of science and high technologies by G. Bechmann, Z. Bauman’s idea about sociocultural imbalance as an essential characteristic of “individualized society.” The specificity of the value determination of scientific knowledge is considered in the context of substantiating the sociocognitive approach as the most important result of the philosophical and methodological research in the 20th century. Within the framework of this approach, two alternative strategies are distinguished, for using social and cognitive values as specific forms of prerequisite knowledge. One of the strategies is focused on development of conceptual foundations of science and rationally grounded metatheoretical structures (V.S. Stepin). The second strategy gives preference to non-conceptual (pre-conceptual) forms of background knowledge as productive metaphors that perform the functions of methodological heuristics and the integration of scientific knowledge into culture (M. Foucault, L. Laudan, et al.). The article concludes that there is the peculiar bifunctionality of the cultural valuein relation to science. On the one hand, science itself is a fundamental value in modern culture, although its impact on social life is ambivalent. On the other hand, the dominant values of risk society influence the formation of a new image of science and its methodological tools.

KULTURA OTKAZIVANJA KAO HIBRIDNI OBRAZAC POSTMODERNE DRUŠTVENOSTI

The central issue discussed in this paper concerns the post-modern social development, which has made people – high-ranking officials, persons entrenched in the cultural establishment, intellectuals, and ordinary individuals without public notoriety alike – stew over every publicly uttered word under threat of total “cancellation”. Despite frequent attempts to interpret this phenomenon, now commonly referred to as the cancel culture, in the light of maintaining the hegemony of liberal thought or as a peculiar continuation of political correctness, I shall demonstrate herein that the key function of the cancel culture is the social embedment of disembedded individuals, as part of a global trend of tribalisation of society. This is the result of various processes which accompany the reflexive modernisation and bring about insecurity and distrust as the main characteristics of life in a risk society. Individuals are therefore forced to seek refuge in adopted hybrid patterns of sociability, the cancel culture being only one of them. These patterns arise as a consequence of convergence of pre-modern and post-modern patterns of sociability by means of digital technologies, which become their hybridisation agent.

The Standardization of “Good Governance” in the Age of Reflexive Modernity

AbstractStandards, indicators, and benchmarks are well-studied instruments of global governance. What has received less attention so far is the trend toward the standardization of governance itself. Catalogs of “good governance” are drawn up for universal use and promise to optimize the processes of governance. International organizations, development agencies, and academics compile such catalogs to make the quality of governance measurable, comparable, and “rankable.” Good governance standards have attracted sustained criticism. They project normative concepts from the West, where they are usually formulated, to other parts of the world. As societies and cultures are not standardized, it is problematic to expect standardized tools to have uniform and beneficial effects regardless of local context. Good governance as a ready-made toolbox also is at odds with the very ideal of democracy as self-determination. On the other hand, good governance standards can have empowering effects when they enable societal actors to challenge oppression, corruption, or violations of human rights. How can we make sense of this ambivalence? In this article, we argue that the contested standardization of governance, with all its ambivalences, represents one of the typical reflexive loops that characterize the radicalization of the modernization process that sociologist Ulrich Beck described. Standardization, as a practice of modernity, has become highly self-reflexive and the debates over good governance catalogs show how, in modern functionally complex societies, different ideals of modernity can be at odds with each other.Les normes, indicateurs et points de repère sont des instruments bien étudiés de la gouvernance mondiale. Mais la tendance à la normalisation de la gouvernance a jusqu'ici bénéficié de moins d'attention. Des catalogues de « bonne gouvernance » sont élaborés pour une utilisation universelle et promettent d'optimiser les processus de gouvernance. Des organisations internationales, des agences de développement et des universitaires compilent de tels catalogues pour rendre la qualité de la gouvernance mesurable, comparable et « classable ». Les normes de bonne gouvernance se sont attirées des critiques soutenues. Elles projettent des concepts normatifs de l'occident, où ils sont généralement formulés, vers d'autres parties du monde. Étant donné que les sociétés et les cultures ne sont pas standardisées, il est problématique de s'attendre à ce que des outils normalisés aient des effets uniformes et bénéfiques quel que soit le contexte local. La bonne gouvernance en tant que boîte à outils toute prête est également en contradiction avec l'idéal même de la démocratie qu'est l'autodétermination. Par contre, les normes de bonne gouvernance peuvent avoir des effets autonomisants lorsqu'elles permettent à des acteurs sociétaux de remettre en question l'oppression, la corruption ou des violations des droits de l'homme. Comment pouvons-nous comprendre cette ambivalence? Dans cet article, nous soutenons que la normalisation contestée de la gouvernance, avec toutes ses ambivalences, représente l'une des boucles réflexives typiques qui caractérisent la radicalisation du processus de modernisation décrite par le sociologue Ulrich Beck. La normalisation, en tant que pratique de modernité, est devenue très auto-réflexive et les débats sur les catalogues de bonne gouvernance montrent comment différents idéaux de modernité peuvent être en contradiction dans des sociétés modernes fonctionnellement complexes.Los estándares, indicadores y análisis comparativos son instrumentos ampliamente estudiados de la gobernanza mundial. Lo que ha recibido menos atención hasta ahora es la tendencia hacia la estandarización de la propia gobernanza. Se elaboran catálogos de “buena gobernanza” para uso universal, con la promesa de optimizar los procesos de gobernanza. Las organizaciones internacionales, las agencias de desarrollo y los académicos compilan dichos catálogos para que la calidad de la gobernanza sea medible, comparable y “clasificable.” Los estándares de buena gobernanza han sido objeto de críticas continuas. Proyectan conceptos normativos desde Occidente, donde suelen formularse, hacia otras partes del mundo. Como las sociedades y culturas no están estandarizadas, es problemático pretender que las herramientas estandarizadas tengan efectos uniformes y beneficiosos con independencia del contexto local. El concepto de buena gobernanza como recurso preestablecido también se contradice con el propio ideal de la democracia como autodeterminación. Por otro lado, los estándares de buena gobernanza pueden tener efectos de empoderamiento cuando permiten que los actores sociales cuestionen la opresión, la corrupción o las violaciones de los derechos humanos. ¿Cómo podemos entender esta ambivalencia? En este artículo, sostenemos que la controvertida estandarización de la gobernanza, con todas sus ambivalencias, representa uno de los típicos bucles reflexivos que caracterizan la radicalización del proceso de modernización que describió el sociólogo Ulrich Beck. La estandarización como práctica de la modernidad se ha vuelto sumamente autorreflexiva, al tiempo que los debates sobre los catálogos de buena gobernanza muestran las maneras en que los diferentes ideales de la modernidad pueden estar en contradicción dentro del marco de las sociedades modernas funcionalmente complejas.

Research and Scientific Advice in the Second Modernity: Technology Assessment, Responsible Research and Innovation, and Sustainability Research

The scientific and technological advance has been a major driving force of modernization for centuries. However, the 20th century was full of indications and diagnoses of a deep crisis of modernity. Currently, debates on limits to growth, pollution, and climate change indicate the serious and threatening lack of sustainability of the so-called ‘first modernity’. This crisis of modernity has motivated scholars to develop concepts of modernizing modernity, with the approach of a ‘reflexive modernization’ to reach a ‘second modernity’ being prominent. In this paper, Technology Assessment (TA), Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), and Sustainability Research (SR) are regarded as manifestations of this reflexive modernization in the field of problem-oriented and transformative research. The paper aims to (a) unfold the hypothesis regarding TA, RRI, and SR as scientific approaches within reflexive modernization, (b) clarify the respective meaning of ‘reflexive’ in these approaches, (c) identify commonalities as well as differences between the three approaches, and (d) draw conclusions for the relation and further development of TA, RRI, and SR.

Kembali ke Alam untuk Meminimalkan Risiko: Alasan Perempuan Muda Memilih Perawatan Kecantikan Tradisional

The emergence of modernization and globalization, followed by technology, information, and communication, leads Javanese millennial women to start using modern beauty treatment. On the other side, there are groups of millennial women who prefer to use traditional treatment. Research on traditional treatments and Jamu (Indonesian herbal medicine) are mostly focus on its function rather than reasons of people using it. This study explores the factors and reasons of millennial women to return to use traditional beauty treatment rather than modern one. This study applied qualitative in particular phenomenology to explain this trend and to understand the meaning from the perspective of users. This research conducted in Yogyakarta Special Region and involved eight millennial women. Using theory of Ulrich Beck on risk society, this study suggests that the trend of back to natural treatment among millennials is a form of a reflexive modernity. There are reasons of young women to do this; 1) previous experience of adverse effect of modern beauty treatment; 2) the price of traditional beauty treatment is more affordable than modern one; 3) the feasibility of getting basic ingredients for traditional beauty treatment; 4) belief about the good effect of traditional beauty treatment rather than modern one.

The Closing Educational Gap in E-privacy Management in European Perspective

Educational gaps are increasingly salient as skills and knowledge gain prominence in digital societies. E-privacy management, namely, the ability to control the flow of information about the self, is an important asset nowadays, since a skillful use of digital technologies enables full participation in social life and limits the exposure to unwarranted algorithmic processes. We investigate whether and why education affects e-privacy management, and whether the educational gaps vary following a country’s degree of digitalization. We empirically test two sets of mechanisms, one derived from the digital divide and diffusion of innovations theories and the other from the reflexive modernization theory. The study employs Eurobarometer 87.1 data ( N = 21,177), collected in 2017 among representative samples from 28 European countries, and uses multilevel linear regression model. Findings suggest that the years spent in education positively affect e-privacy management, and that this effect is largely mediated by digital skills and Internet use, and to a lesser extent by a reflexive mind-set. The educational gap in e-privacy management narrows in more digitalized countries.

Evaluating the potential of enhancing teachers’ digital competencies to meet the needs of diversification of education and learning

Introduction. The article presents the results of reflection on the readiness of the education system to respond to the transformational challenges of digital economy through the formation of relevant human resources. It identifies an imbalance in the response of the education system to the demand of society and business for training human resources with digital competences. The imbalance makes it difficult to implement new in-demand educational trajectories based on the principle of individualization of employee’s professional and personal self-realization. The purpose of the study is to identify the potential of enhancing teachers' digital competence in accordance with the needs of education diversification within digital transformation. Materials and Methods. The methodological basis for the study consists of reflexive modernity concepts (E. Giddens, W. Beck), reflecting qualitative changes of the social world in the context of digitalization; digital sociology of changes in social relations influenced by digital technologies (V. F. Nitsevich), mediating ordinary social contacts in everyday communication and creating new digital opportunities and risks. Existing and required digital competences of teachers were identified on the basis of desk research of teachers’ digital skills and competences models and empirical research on technical university teachers' opinions (survey method). Statistical methods were used to analyze and interpret the research data. Results. The study has identified the potential of the education system to adjust to the challenges of educational and career transformations. It is emphasized that the ways of potential realization can vary from ‘soft’ ones which imply gradual mastering based on several program versions and formats to the so called stress-options of forced competence mastering within a limited period of time. The necessity of introducing regulating measures for the transition to a new role of a teacher in the digital model of education is justified (e.g. teacher as a manager, teacher as a facilitator of the educational process). Conclusions. The article concludes that differentiation based on the level of digital competences and the degree of readiness to master digital technologies limits the speed of relevant response of the education system to the transformational demands of society. The need for content elaboration and teaching health-saving technologies within the digital culture is highlighted. Since the level of digital competencies of teaching staff is the basis for the development of educational institutions and the competitiveness of the country, measures are to be taken in order to facilitate the development of digital competencies.

The Body Politic: Planning History, Design, and Public Health

Guest editor Stephen J. Ramos introduces the special issue, themed “The Body Politic: Planning History, Design, and Public Health.” The issue has five contributions from Australia, South Africa, Northern Europe, and the United States. Throughout its history, planning is continually tasked with both modernization and reflexive modernization simultaneously. The duality serves as an instrument of the state in the broader governance negotiation of private capital accumulation and public welfare. The contemporary COVID-19 pandemic provides the opportunity to reconsider relationships between planning, design, and public health, and the politics and policies that constitute and mediate these relationships. The hope is for the special issue to inspire empathy for a more civic, international body politic.

«ЧРЕЗВЫЧАЙНОЕ» ПРАВОВОЕ РЕГУЛИРОВАНИЕ КАК НОВАЯ МОДЕЛЬ УПРАВЛЕНИЯ ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫМИ ОТНОШЕНИЯМИ

Legal regulation of public relations has undergone major changes over the past two decades. In the last few years, the trend towards its transformation – «reflexive modernization» – has not only been preserved, but has intensified many times over, making it possible to raise the question of the purposeful formation of a model of emergency management of society. Uncertainty, risk (both real and possible), danger, anxiety and fear as a normal state form the basis of the need for special (exceptional or extraordinary) legal regulation on an ongoing basis, gradually changing society from its psychology to the specific actions of each person. Giving legitimacy to the ongoing processes, the law itself changes in accordance with them, more and more straying to the level of emergency, the reflexive nature of which today is beyond doubt. A state of temporal uncertainty is considered as an indispensable condition for development of a new model of the state management on which literally everything depends. Public relations are exposed to broad correction which is easily carried out under some kind of extraordinary, exceptional, urgent, not requiring additional justi-fications.As a result, what for some time seemed to be the subject of works of the fantastic genre is now becoming an everyday reality, allowing us to talk about a new paradigm of legal regulation

Risk and Vulnerability Differences Across the European Union Based on an Accidental-Injury Proneness Index

Injuries from accidents are an important public health problem in Europe. This study provides a diagnosis of this social problem, examining whether differences in accident rates and injury rates between European countries can be explained in terms of a collective propensity or tendency to suffer accidental injury. Identifying the social factors that can affect the predisposition in a country of its population to suffer accidents, we distinguish between those that act to increase the probability of accidents—factors connected to voluntary risk-taking—, and those that operate aggravating their consequences—vulnerability factors connected to social position. To examine variability, we have calculated an Accidental-Injury Proneness Index (AIPI), which measures both the incidence and seriousness of accidents. In addition, as the propensity to suffer accidental injury varies significantly by gender and age, we have calculated scores on the index for different age groups and by sex for all 28 countries participating in the European Health Interview Survey, using 2014 data. To understand the logic underlying the data and develop a typology of countries based on the propensity for accidental injury, we carry out a principal component analysis, followed by a two-step cluster analysis. The two dimensions obtained from the analysis are: motives for risk taking and grounds for vulnerability. The results confirm the hypothesis that connects reflexive modernity with the search for emotion through risk-taking by carrying out activities motivated by “being happy”, which in empirical terms translate into high accident rates.