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Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 2025, 8(1); doi: 10.25236/AJHSS.2025.080124.

A Study of the Traceability of Risk Theory and Its Modern Implications

Author(s)

Ci Ma1, Jinfan Shen2, Yu Yan1

Corresponding Author:
Jinfan Shen
Affiliation(s)

1School of Information Science and Technology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China 

2School of Political Science and Law, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China 

Abstract

With the social and economic development, the risk frequently appears, and the academia pays more and more attention to the risk and its theory, and the western scholars create the theory of “risk society” and expand it to multi-disciplinary fields. Early on, the “local” and “origin” theories of risk were all based on the idea that risk originated from natural dangers, but with the evolution of the times, the meaning of risk has been expanded to encompass the kernel of uncertainty and danger, which has been defined differently by different disciplines. Risk theory has been elaborated by a number of scholars, the meaning is more and more rich, Ulrich Beck from the economic, social, political and legal dimensions of the analysis of the risk society; Anthony Giddens put forward the risk of “breaking” with the modern industrial civilization of the society, and distinguish between external risk and the risk of production, emphasizing that the risk of two-sided; Nicholas Luhmann Nicholas Luhmann believes that risk is created by human beings, and constructs the concept of risk responsibility; Mary Douglas and Scott Rush interpret from the perspective of risk culture, and believe that risk is a civilized phenomenon. Risk theory, on the one hand, reveals that environmental risks are accompanied by high-quality development of society, requiring countries to pay attention to environmental protection; on the other hand, it emphasizes the dialectical view of the two-sided nature of scientific and technological development, as well as the use of dialectics to perceive the positive and negative utility of risk. It should be clear that risk theory is essentially a cognitive thinking method, and as China is facing multiple risks during the critical period of globalization and transformation, which are different from the causes of risks in the West, it should, under the guidance of the thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, critically absorb the experience of risk theory, promote green development and ecological civilization, and move forward towards a modern socialist powerhouse.

Keywords

risk; risk theory; modern implications

Cite This Paper

Ci Ma, Jinfan Shen, Yu Yan. A Study of the Traceability of Risk Theory and Its Modern Implications. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2025) Vol. 8, Issue 1: 151-159. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2025.080124.

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