Unpredictable Climate Change, Societal Risk and Global Uncertainty

The session explores societal risks and uncertainties in an era of turbulent global power dynamics and climate change. Beck’s risk society discourse envisaged society metamorphosing into realities of peril from unpredictable environmental emergencies. A setting that goes beyond manufactured risks, as risk events mutate into novel and indefinite risks. A main undercurrent of global risk is climate change, which affects people’s lives and creates uncertainty about whether the current world trajectory can guarantee sustainable civic environments. Contributing to these turbulent dynamics are political and financial uncertainties that challenge established human rights expectations, such as rights to political, social, and cultural association, as well as the right to publicly challenge restrictions on freedom of movement and speech. In this session, we explore whether risk scenarios - perceived or real - have become more unpredictable, frequent, and devastating. We will also discuss changes in risk-aversiveness and risk-sensitivity, and the extent to which local and global risks have become normalised. These issues are discussed from the perspectives of sociological discourses to understand current societal and political dynamics and the progression of climate change. The preparedness to navigate an evolving, unpredictable, and uncertain risk society.