Ulrich Beck is Professor of Sociology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. Johannes Willms is a journalist and writer.

"Every now and then a new way of thinking about the social world occurs. And once that happens it is difficult to imagine how sociology had managed without that new way of thinking. ….Ulrich Beck’s concept of risk society …was a kind of revelation. It provided for sociology a way of speaking of the physical world and of its risks that brought in a striking array of new topics. In effect it enabled people to speak of things, indeed in a way to “see” things, that they had been trying to speak of and to see, but the where the concepts had been chronically lacking." John Urry, Professor of Sociology, Lancaster University

• Introduction: Thinking Society Anew (John Urry). 1. Post modernity or the second modernity.2. Individualisation.3. Global risk society.4. Labour society and regime of risk.5. Cosmopolitan society and its enemies.6. The prospects for a second enlightenment.Recommended literature for further reading.Selected Works by Authors Cited in the Text.Books by the Authors in English.About the Authors.Index.