Ulrich Beck

Ulrich Beck (2007)

Ulrich Beck (born May 15, 1944) is a German sociologist who holds a professorship at Munich University and at the London School of Economics.

Life

Beck was born in the Pomeranian town of Stolp, Germany (now Słupsk in Poland) in 1944. From 1966 onwards he studied sociology, philosophy, psychology, and political science at Munich University. In 1972 he left as a Doctor of Philosophy and worked as a sociologist at Munich University. In 1979 he qualified as a university lecturer. He was professor at the universities of Münster (1979-1981) and Bamberg (1981-1992). Since 1992 Beck has been professor for sociology and director of the Institute for Sociology of Munich University. He is also the British Journal of Sociology Professor at the London School of Economics. He has received many international prizes and honors.

From 1995-1997 Beck was a member of the Kommission für Zukunftsfragen der Freistaaten Bayern und Sachsen (Commission for Future Questions of the Free States of Bavaria and Saxony). Since 1999 he has been the speaker of the DFG research programme on Reflexive Modernity.

He is married to the German social scientist Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim.

Interests

Beck currently studies modernization, ecological problems, individualization, and globalization. Recently he has also embarked on exploring the changing conditions of work in a world of increasing global capitalism, declining influence of unions, and flexibilisation of the labor process, a new theory rooted in the concept of cosmopolitanism. Beck has also contributed a number of new words in German sociology, including "risk society", "second modernity", reflexive modernization and brazilianization (Brasilianisierung).

The Spinelli Group

On 15 September, 2010 Beck supported the new initiative Spinelli Group in the European Parliament, which was founded to reinvigorate the effort to federalise the European Union (EU). Other prominent supporters are: Jacques Delors, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Guy Verhofstadt, Andrew Duff, Elmar Brok.

Works

Beck is the editor of the sociological journal Soziale Welt (since 1980), the author of some 150 articles, and the author or editor of many books, for example:

• Risikogesellschaft - Auf dem Weg in eine andere Moderne (1986) de:Risikogesellschaft (Risk Society)
• Beck, Ulrich (1988) Gegengifte : die organisierte Unverantwortlichkeit. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
• Beck, Ulrich (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage
• Riskante Freiheiten - Gesellschaftliche Individualisierungsprozesse in der Moderne (1994, editor together with Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim)
• Beck, Ulrich & Giddens, Anthony & Lash Scott (1994) Reflexive Modernization.Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Eigenes Leben - Ausflüge in die unbekannte Gesellschaft, in der wir leben (1995, together with W. Vossenkuhl and U. E. Ziegler, photographs by T. Rautert)
• Beck-Gernsheim, Elisabeth & Beck, Ulrich (1995) The Normal Chaos of Love. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Beck, Ulrich (1995) Ecological Politics in an Age of Risk. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Beck, Ulrich (1996) The Reinvention of Politics.Rethinking Modernity in the Global Social Order. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Was ist Globalisierung? (1997)
• Beck, Ulrich (1998) Democracy without Enemies. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Beck, Ulrich (1998) World Risk Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Beck, Ulrich (1999) What Is Globalization?. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Beck, Ulrich (2000) The Brave New World of Work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Adam, Barbara & Beck, Ulrich & Van Loon, Joost (2000) The Risk Society and Beyond: Critical Issues for Social Theory. London: Sage.
• Beck, Ulrich & Beck-Gernsheim, Elisabeth (2002) Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and its Social and Political Consequences. London: Sage.
• Beck, Ulrich & Willms, Johannes (2003) Conversations with Ulrich Beck. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Beck, Ulrich (2005) Power in the Global Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Beck, Ulrich (2006) Cosmopolitan Vision. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Beck, U., & Edgar, G. (2007). Cosmopolitan Europe. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Beck, Ulrich. (2008). World at Risk. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Beck, Ulrich & Grande, Edgar (2010) "Varieties of second modernity: extra-European and European experiences and perspectives" British Journal of Sociology, Vol 61, Issue 3, Pages 406-638.

See also

• Global governance

External links

• Professor Ulrich Beck - his staff page at the LSE
• Homepage of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Beck (German)
• Unofficial Ulrich Beck trading card at theorycards.org
• Ideas radio show, discusses Ulrich's concepts of risk in science and society
• New media artwork inspired by Ulrich Beck's work, created by eco-art collaborative EcoArtTech
• Interview with Ulrich Beck:“Nationalism does not leave much room for the recognition of others”, Barcelona Metropolis, 2009.

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Name	Beck, Ulrich
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Date of birth	May 15, 1944
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