Ulrich Beck Born on May 15 1944 German

Ulrich Beck Born on May 15, 1944 German Sociologist

Education • From 1966 onwards, he studied sociology, philosophy, psychology and political science at Munich University • In 1972, he attained a Doctor of Philosophy at Munich University and then worked there as a sociologist

Instruction • 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 was professor of sociology and director of the Institute for Sociology at Munich University. • He was a professor of Sociology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich until 2009. He holds a professorship at the London School of Economics

Other Activities • From 1995 to 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) • From 1999 to 2009 Beck was a spokesman of Forschungsgemeinschaft / German Research Foundation ) DFG ( • Beck is a member of the Board of Trustees at the Jewish Center in Munich • Beck is a member of the German PEN Deutsche

Interests and Thoughts • 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 labour 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)”.

• For 25 years, Beck has been delivering new diagnoses to the following question: • How can social and political thought and action in the face of radical global change (environmental destruction, financial crisis, global warming, the crisis of democracy and the nation-state institutions) be intertwined for the new modernity? • The radicalized modernity cuts down its own foundations. Based institutions such as the nation-state and the family are globalized from the inside. According to Beck, all contemporary political thinking comes from the methodological nationalism of political thought and sociology (and other social sciences).

• Risk Society: • Risk society is a term coined by Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens during the 1980 s. According to Beck and Giddens, the traditional industrial class structure of modern society is breaking apart. Globalization creates risks that concerns people from all different classes; for example, radioactivity, pollution, and even unemployment. He points out that risks are also socially constructive and some risks are perceived as more dangerous because they are discussed in mass media more frequently, such as terrorism. Risk society leads to analysis of risks, causing prejudgment.

Honors and Awards • In 1999 Beck was awarded with the CICERO speakers prize • in 1996 with the Cultural Prize of Honour City of Munich • 1999 with the German-British Forum Award for outstanding contributions to German-British relations (along with Anthony Giddens) • Beck has received a prize from the DGS (German Sociological Association) for outstanding achievements in the field of public activity in sociology in 2004 • In 2005 the Schader Prize, the highest prize award for social scientists in Germany

• He has been awarded six honorary doctorates: • - University of Jyväskylä / Finland 1996 • - University of Macerata / Italy 2006 • - Madrid University (UNED) / Spain, 2007 • - University of Lausanne / Switzerland, 2011 • - Free University of Varna / Bulgaria, 2011

Main Works • Risikogesellschaft - Auf dem Weg in eine andere Moderne (Risk Society) (1986) • Gegengifte : die organisierte Unverantwortlichkeit (1988) • Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity (1992) • Gernsheim: Riskante Freiheiten - Gesellschaftliche Individualisierungsprozesse in der Moderne (1994)(with & Elisabeth Beck) • Reflexive Modernization. Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order (1994) (with Anthony Giddens and Lash Scott) • Ausflüge in die unbekannte Gesellschaft, in der wir leben (1995) (with Vossenkuhl, Ziegler) • The Normal Chaos of Love (1995) (with Elisabeth Beck) • Ecological Politics in an Age of Risk (1995) • The Reinvention of Politics. Rethinking Modernity in the Global Social Order (1996) • Was ist Globalisierung? (1997) • Democracy without Enemies (1998)

• World Risk Society (1998) • What Is Globalization? (1999) • The Brave New World of Work (2000) • The Risk Society and Beyond: Critical Issues for Social Theory (2000) (with Barbara Adam and Joost Van loon) • Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and its Social and Political Consequences (2002) (with Elisabeth Beck) • Conversations with Ulrich Beck (2002) (with Johannes Willms) • Power in the Global Age (2005) • Cosmopolitan Vision (2006) • Cosmopolitan Europe (2007) (with E. Grande) • World at Risk (2009) • "Varieties of second modernity: extra-European and European experiences and perspectives" (2010)(with E. Grande) • German Europe (2013)