Risk Society Research Articles

Social impacts of COVID-2019 in China

The article presents the results of a descriptive and analytical study of scientific works by Chinese authors on the social consequences of COVID-2019 in China. Using the methods of content analysis, classification and systematization, the author of the article identified the role of the COVID-2019 pandemic in Chinese society, identified the main directions for studying its impact in sociological science. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the social impact of the COVID-2019 pandemic is reduced to the formation of a new type of risk society, changes in the social spheres of education and healthcare, the socio-psychological state of Chinese society, the formation of new social trends in consumption, the aggravation of the unemployment problem in the country, the transformation values ​​of student youth, as well as an increase in the gap in the social well-being of rural and urban areas. The identified social consequences of COVID-2019 serve as the basis for the subsequent development of a social policy for the socio-economic recovery of the country in the post-pandemic period.

Towards a sociology of emergency. Epidemics, biorisks, and the society of the Coronavirus

Over the last decade, the social agenda has been shaped by a continuous chain of potentially forthcoming future emergencies. Imagined, projected, and expected emergencies and crises have affected political and scientific agendas and redefined the pre-planning for risks at a local, national, and global level. Whilst most of these emergencies took place largely on an imaginary stage and never materialised – at least not with significant effects on global society – the COVID-19 pandemic finally made real the imaginary that had been expected and projected for over a decade. This article claims that within the context of an emergency in the making and the consequent social, economic, political, and material crises, sociology and social analysis need to assume new responsibilities by providing answers and perspective to those social developments that are direct and indirect results of the social and material conditions of a society of emergency. In a world in which the reality of emergencies has started to outrun the prevention of risks, a sociology of emergency is not only a useful but a necessary step in the development of social theory. We suggest that a redefinition of some of those concepts and ideas that marked the sociological agenda of risk society becomes unavoidable. We argue also that reconnection with those issues that had been discarded from the conceptual framework of a society of risk has become absolutely necessary.

Concomitant Hepatorenal Dysfunction and Malnutrition in Valvular Heart Surgery: Long-Term Prognostic Implications for Death and Heart Failure.

BackgroundStrategies to improve long‐term prediction of heart failure and death in valvular surgery are urgently needed because of an increasing number of procedures globally. This study sought to report the prevalence, changes, and prognostic implications of concomitant hepatorenal dysfunction and malnutrition in valvular surgery.Methods and ResultsIn 909 patients undergoing valvular surgery, 3 groups were defined based on hepatorenal function (the modified model for end‐stage liver disease excluding international normalized ratio score) and nutritional status (Controlling Nutritional Status score): normal hepatorenal function and nutrition (normal), hepatorenal dysfunction or malnutrition alone (mild), and concomitant hepatorenal dysfunction and malnutrition (severe). Overall, 32%, 46%, and 19% of patients were classified into normal, mild, and severe groups, respectively. Over a 4.1‐year median follow‐up, mild and severe groups incurred a higher risk of mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 3.17 [95% CI, 1.40–7.17] and HR, 9.30 [95% CI, 4.09–21.16], respectively), cardiovascular death (subdistribution HR, 3.29 [95% CI, 1.14–9.52] and subdistribution HR, 9.29 [95% CI, 3.09–27.99]), heart failure hospitalization (subdistribution HR, 2.11 [95% CI, 1.25–3.55] and subdistribution HR, 3.55 [95% CI, 2.04–6.16]), and adverse outcomes (HR, 2.11 [95% CI, 1.25–3.55] and HR, 3.55 [95% CI, 2.04–6.16]). Modified model for end‐stage liver disease excluding international normalized ratio and controlling nutritional status scores improved the predictive ability of European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (area under the curve: 0.80 versus 0.73, P<0.001) and Society of Thoracic Surgeons score (area under the curve: 0.79 versus 0.72, P=0.004) for all‐cause mortality. One year following surgery (n=707), patients with persistent concomitant hepatorenal dysfunction and malnutrition (severe) experienced worse outcomes than those without.ConclusionsConcomitant hepatorenal dysfunction and malnutrition was frequent and strongly linked to heart failure and mortality in valvular surgery.

Incidence, predictors, and outcome for post-operative atrial fibrillation in Indian patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting-a prospective observational study.

Indian patients who undergo surgical revascularization are relatively younger than their Western counterparts and are predominantly revascularized using off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) technique. They may therefore be at a reduced risk of developing post-operative atrial fibrillation (POAF). The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of POAF, measure its impact on outcomes, and identify the predictors for POAF in the Indian patients undergoing OPCAB. Besides, the ability of European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) and Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) scores in predicting POAF was also assessed. In this prospective observational study, all patients undergoing isolated OPCAB in a single institution over a 12-month period were included. Patients undergoing re-operative surgery, emergency procedure, concomitant surgery, or those with history of previously diagnosed or treated atrial fibrillation were excluded. Logistic regression was performed to identify the predictors of POAF. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the ability of EuroSCORE and STS scores to assess risk of developing POAF. We recruited 1108 patients in the study of which 88 (7.94%) patients developed POAF. Age (OR = 1.082, p < 0.001, 95%CI: 1.050-1.114), unstable angina (OR = 16.32, p = 0.036, 95%CI: 1.2-221.4), presence of diabetes mellitus (OR 1.781, p = 0.025, 95%CI: 1.074-2.955), left atrial size (OR 2.506, p = 0.001, 95%CI: 1.478-4.251), and presence of chronic renal failure (OR 8.7, p = 0.001, 95%CI: 2.4-31.53) were significant predictors of POAF. Both the EuroSCORE (p = 0.035) and the STS score (p = 0.001) were significantly higher in patients developing POAF. The area under the ROC curve for the EuroSCORE II was 0.62 and for the STS score was 0.64 suggesting satisfactory and similar discriminatory power of both the scores to predict POAF in these patients. POAF was associated with significantly increased adverse outcomes like stroke and prolonged hospital stay. In our study, the incidence of POAF was much lower (7.94%) than that reported previously. POAF significantly increased adverse outcomes and length of hospital stay. Both EuroSCORE II and STS scores had similar discriminating power in predicting POAF.

Study on the factors and pathways influencing the public’s environmental risk response behavior from the perspective of perceived risk – A case study of JS industrial zone in Shanghai, China

As the environmental risk awareness increases, the public is highly concerned about the possible environmental risks in industrial zones. When the public’s risk response behaviors are different, the social operation cost and governance effectiveness will also vary greatly. This article divides the public risk response behavior into two forms: collaborative and antagonistic. It conducts research in the JS industrial zone, using the structural equation model to study the influencing factors and action paths of the public risk response behaviors. The results show that the enhancement of system trust and self-efficacy will promote the public to adopt collaborative behavior, while lacking of system trust, public participation efficacy and perceived benefit will lead to antagonistic behavior, and system trust is the decisive factor. In addition, the mediating effect of risk perception is significant in the transformation from lacking of system trust and public participation efficacy to antagonistic behavior, especially in the influence mechanism of public participation efficacy, which is fully mediated. Finally, this article proposes to implement the rights and responsibilities, improve interest compensation, break the decision-making mode, strengthen knowledge cultivation and deepen risk communication, so as to guide the public’s collaborative behavior, avoid the occurrence of confrontation events and realize the sustainable development of risk society.

Dynamic Conservation in Risk Society: A Case Study of COVID-19 Pandemic Risk in Kashan Qanat Irrigated Agriculture.

In the present age, the world agricultural heritage can inspire agroecology and sustainable agriculture. But various risks have threatened, eroded and forgotten this heritage, so dynamic conservation of this heritage is essential. In this study, “Qanat Irrigated Agricultural Heritage Systems, Kashan, Iran” which has been registered worldwide in the face of corona pandemic risks has been selected as a case study. In this qualitative research, in addition to field observations and documentary studies, 25 in-depth interviews and 39 semi-structured interviews with experts and key informants was done and grounded theory and content analysis have been used. In the process of interviews and analyzes based on “risk society theory”, risks and wicked problems and related solutions have been identified and finally based on cultural theory, “clumsy solution space” has been summarized and presented for dynamic conservation. Based on the findings of this study, paying attention to a kind of reward for ecosystem services, developing online sales of agricultural products in rural areas of Kashan and also creating twinning with similar areas can help solve wicked problems. Also, paying more attention to the regulations for the protection of qanats, as well as the laws for home business insurance, can strengthen sustainable development in this rural area. Due to the wide range of different dimensions of agricultural heritage, it is suggested that in future research, clumsy solution spaces for each of these dimensions be created and developed separately.

Study on the legal mechanism of local government epidemic management taking COVID-19 prevention and control as example

Living in the risk society described by the sociologist Baker, the free market mechanism cannot regulate the value of risk and choice, which requires the government to break away from the traditional concept of administrative law, integrate the risk theory, and establish an administrative legal system that ADAPTS to The Times. The emergence of COVID-19 is undoubtedly a major test of China's existing legal system for emergency management. This paper will take this epidemic as an example to explore the drawbacks of the current emergency management system in themodern risk era and study how to establish an effective emergency management legal system in the new era

Covid-19 and Sargassum blooms: impacts and social issues in a mass tourism destination (Mexican Caribbean).

When the COVID-19 pandemic reached the Mexican Caribbean in late March 2020, this world-renown tourist destination had already been struggling with Sargassum influxes for 5 years. The nature and magnitude of these two impacts are not directly comparable, but both have contributed to profoundly transforming the region. As extreme COVID-19 containment measures were implemented nationwide, the tourism industry contracted by 98% as over 23 million visitors failed to arrive in 2020 and 400 daily flights stopped landing at Cancun Airport. Sargassum accumulations on Caribbean beaches, and their collection, containment and removal had been a challenging socioeconomic issue in the Caribbean region years before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the tourist industry. We explore Beck’s concept of a risk society as an approach to these socioenvironmental impacts. We analyze five premises about risk society, combining them with a mainly ethnography methodology involving 61 informants. We present the results in terms of impacts. Using the concept of trajectory based on pandemic event chronology, we review the main stages of the pandemic during the research period (May to July 2020) and how the studied population worked to prevent virus infection and spread. We employ narratives to analyze risk perception both of the Sargassum influx and the pandemic. The discussion highlights the importance of moving beyond nature/society dichotomies and dualisms. In summary, the profound transformations caused by these impacts provide a unique opportunity for the Mexican Caribbean to reconstitute itself in a way that encompasses the world risk society concept, perhaps in a more socially and environmentally resilient incarnation.

World Risk Society and Constructing Cosmopolitan Realities: A Bourdieusian Critique of Risk Society.

Current global crises and threats have revealed the growing implications of Ulrich Beck's theory of risk society. Rather than being a theory of risk, risk society theory is more a social theory of the new social world and modernity. Risk society theory encompasses a new social ontology of the social in the era of uncertainties and crises. Beck also proposes the cosmopolitan outlook and particularly methodological cosmopolitanism as the epistemology and methodology of the world risk society. Yet, a close examination of Beck's social theory reveals a contradiction between the two aspects. On the one hand, in the ontological dimension, we are faced with the primacy of the indeterminate and the empirical, but on the other hand, Beck's epistemological prescriptive eliminate the possibility of reaching them. The current article aims to address this incompatibility. In doing so, first, the main pillars of risk society theory, and then the cosmopolitan outlook and sociology are discussed. By criticizing Beck's epistemological apparatus as well as juxtaposing the theory of risk society and Pierre Bourdieu's theory of action and fields, in the final section, the article proposes a solution to complete the ontology of risk society and overcome some of its epistemological problems.

Reconstructing the Data Crime Governance Model from the Perspective of Criminal Compliance

With the advent of the risk society and the era of big data, criminal law must respond to data crime in a more proactive manner. The traditional way of conviction and sentencing adopted by the current criminal law for data crime can no longer meet the requirements of the times. Compliance should be introduced into criminal law to improve the governance system of data crime. There are three ways to incorporate compliance into criminal law: (1) as the exemption cause of enterprise crime; (2) as the general circumstances of sentencing in the General Provisions of Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China; (3) as the special circumstances of sentencing in the Specific Provisions of Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China. The latter two approaches are more suited to China’s national conditions.

The case for space in the co-construction of risk in UK forest schools

ABSTRACT This UK focussed theoretical paper builds on Harper’s (2017. “Outdoor Risky Play and Healthy Child Development in the Shadow of the “Risk Society”: A Forest and Nature School Perspective.” Child & Youth Services 38 (4): 318–334) work in Canadian Forest Schools and the role that Forest Schools play in education by including outdoor risky play. It considers the conceptualisation of a risk-averse Western society, with a focus on healthy childhood development, and the childhood risks within Forest School that are present yet arguably small. There is the opportunity to re-conceptualise ideas around risk within the Forest School space through the framing of Massey’s (2005. For Space. London, UK: Sage Publications] proposition that space is a product of relations-between and that space is always in the process of being made. Thus, children create and ‘own’ the Forest School space through their inhabitation of it. Children’s well-being and the value of risk in their lives can be understood as a fluid, dynamic and relational process within their geographies. Conclusions include a value that risk-taking has within the Forest School space. The implications of Beck's risk society, its ongoing influence on societal beliefs and practices, inducing practitioners’ fear of litigation over accidents and injury are highlighted.

Pandemic discourse and cultural healing

COVID-19 pandemic has brought new social and discursive contexts with the metaphorization and gothification of the virus for many purposes ranging from reporting to politics. This discursive reality is similar to Lawrence Buell’s notion of toxic discourse. The discourse of the pandemic, like toxic discourse, is both useful and harmful in the ‘risk society’ that is exposed to both the infection and economic downslide. While on the one hand this discourse is integral in raising awareness and infection control measures, it also results in the monsterization of virus in press, social media and political rhetoric. This paper attempts to analyze various texts that have emerged in the backdrop of the pandemic to show how the social media humor, advertisement metaphors, masking and sanitizing of language and the serio-comic use of language have evolved as discursive strategies of the contemporary pandemic-hit society. The study also focuses on how literary/poetic use of language becomes a part of cultural healing. Linguistic and literary tropes that have mutated and evolved in the pandemic time are also analyzed.

New ‘old’ risks on the small farm: Iconic species rewilding in Europe

Increasing production to meet the growing demand for food whilst conserving biodiversity and reducing pressure on natural ecosystems is a dual planetary challenge of the highest order. The world’s small farmers are at the forefront of this challenge, being asked to make greater contributions to both enhancing food and nutrition security, and to the stewardship of natural assets. We focus on rewilding involving the conservation, management, and reintroduction of species, and how the praxis impacts small farmers in Europe, simultaneously being encouraged to increase food production. We present empirical data from four European case studies featuring Norwegian wolves, Scottish Sea Eagles, and wild boar in both Spain and Italy. We adopt Beck’s World Risk Society concept to situate what small farmers report as trade-offs, within a broader sociological schema, to show underlying features of a new landscape.

Resilient Health and the Healthcare System. A Few Introductory Remarks in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

People across the globe are facing increasingly complex public health emergencies that are responsible for the loss of life, economic and social problems with unprecedented damage and costs. For some sociologists, our society is even “a risk society” and our time is highly violative. Emergencies of different origin: stemming from natural environmental disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, intense drought, technical accidents, social unrest and last but not least—outbreaks of infectious diseases. This decade started with one of the most significant pandemics in the history of man-kind—COVID-19. Hence, the problems of resilient health and healthcare systems have become urgent. Especially since SARS-CoV-2 may cause long-term health threats and recurrent crises. It is very important to have a common language. So far, definitions and concepts of health and healthcare resilience differ substantially and are seldom clearly defined. The aim of this paper is to describe how health and healthcare system resilience is defined to either uncover, recall, or in combination, its concept and prepare an introductory conceptual review as a preliminary step for further studies.

The historiography of a profession: The societal and political drivers of the health information management profession in Australia.

Health information permeates healthcare delivery from point-of-care, across the continuum of care and throughout the healthcare system's policy, population health, research, planning and funding arenas. Health information managers (HIMs) expertly manage that information. This commentary theorises the health information management profession for the first time. Its purpose is to identify and contextualise, via a historiographical account, the societal and political drivers that have shaped contemporary Australian health information management and HIMs' scientific work. It seeks to build our knowledge of the socio-political influences on the profession's emergence and development, and the projected drivers of its future. Eight critical, socio-political drivers were identified and are addressed in temporaneous order. Scientific medicine has reflected the influences on medicine in the past century and a half of the medical record and other technologies, laboratory-based sciences, evidence-based medicine and evidence-based health. Standardisation has underpinned and guided the profession's practice. The hegemony of non-medical healthcare managers and resource- and performance-related accountabilities emerged in the 1960s, as did the efficiencies of bureaucratisation in healthcare and post-bureaucratic shifts to textualisation and technogovernance. Technologisation has driven constant change in health information management, as have the forces of the fast-paced risk society. Since the 1980s, the health consumer movement has propelled regulatory mechanisms that accord patients' access rights to their medical records and mandate information privacy protections. Finally, a nascent commodification of health information has emerged. These forces exert ongoing impacts on the profession. They will, we conclude, singularly and collectively continue to shape its discourses and direction.

A city of exceptional risks? A critical policy analysis of Hong Kong unemployment insurance

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic engenders unemployment risks globally and locally. Reflectively engaging in Beck's risk society debates, this paper critically reviews the discursive effects of „risks“ when employed by the government in debates about unemployment insurance since the 1997 sovereignty handover. We break down the concept of risk into four layers: moral risk, financial risk, socio-economic risk and political risk and bring to light the contradictory outcomes that colour the nuanced attitudes among the state, the NGOs and the affected subjects.

Risks of Rural Communities in the Era of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Rural communities are among those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic that occurred globally This article attempts to analyze the impact that occurs using Risk Society Theory with literature study methods as a necessary data collection. From the results of the analysis, villagers fall into the criteria of at-risk communities, especially in the case of the Covid 19 pandemic which makes rural communities have a large impact and risks such as increasing unemployment, poverty, anxiety, and uncertainty due to this pandemic situation.

Participation in non-formal education in risk society

ABSTRACT The participation of adults in lifelong learning has undergone significant development in the last few years, with the percentage of adults participating in non-formal education (NFE) risen dramatically. Within this empirical context, this study conceptualises and interconnects the theory of Ulrich Beck’s risk society with the main trends in contemporary NFE. Based on a secondary analysis of data from the LFS and AES, we test four complementary thesis derived from Beck’s theory. Firstly, if adults participating in NFE with the precarious job contract gradually increase. And if automation plays a more critical role in the prevalence of job-oriented NFE. Secondly, we focus on Beck’s individualisation and market-dependence thesis: Do adults in the CZ tend to individualise more in their participation in NFE during the last decade and do they more dependent on market forces? We found that Czech adult education system exhibits a significant level of individualisation that is not based on the classical class categories, but instead on integration into the job market as well as to a lesser extent on the ownership of cultural capital. Subsequently, individualisation is driven by market forces and dictated by company policy. According to the available data, industrial automation has only an indirect effect on participation in job-oriented NFE.

ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ И ОГРАНИЧЕНИЯ РОССИЙСКИХ РЕГИОНОВ ПО ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЮ РЕАКЦИОННЫХ АНТИКРИЗИСНЫХ МЕР РАЗВИТИЯ ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to an unprecedented macroeconomic downturn in a number of developed countries, affecting key areas of the economy and society. Having studied the experience of developed countries in the application of reactionary anti-crisis measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, the consequences of the crisis were determined depending on the types of government policies applied. At the same time, through a detailed analysis of the consequences of the pandemic for the Russian regions, the relationship between the features of the spatial development of territories and the most affected sectors of the economy was revealed. Thus, in regions with a strong dependence on foreign labor in the construction and agribusiness sectors, there is a sharp decline in these industries during the pandemic. Based on the methodology for calculating the probabilities of implementing scenarios for the socioeconomic development of the region, developed at the ONC SB RAS, the estimates of the scenarios of the long-term development of the Omsk region have been adjusted, according to which the scenario of the “risk society” continues to remain dominant and determine the trajectory of the development of the Omsk region after the crisis.

Nature Is Healing

Nature Is Healing