The Contemporary Society And Its Transfiguration: An Analysis Of Ulrich Beck's Work “The Metamorphosis Of The World: New Concepts For A New Reality”

Abstract

Ulrich Beck's latest (and unfinished) book, “The Metamorphosis of the World: new concepts for a new reality”, translated and published in Brazil in 2018 by Editora Zahar, is a work of great scope. With a completely original theoretical character, this is very timely to reflect about the new current reality and its complexity. The author develops in this work a deep analysis of several events and their respective convergence in what he calls the risk society. His starting point lies, precisely, in the distinction between social transformations (present at many moments in history) and the metamorphosis of the world (a singular phenomenon). The latter consists in a radical transformation that produces impacts for all political and social actors of the planet. Therefore, Beck emphasizes that to the extent that the transfigurations of globalized society destabilize the certainties of modernity, the focus shifts to unintentional processes and events that go beyond the realms of politics and democracy, causing a fundamental shock that breaks with the anthropological constants of civilizations and with previous world views. In consequence, it is important that current and future generations of risk deepen the debate about the future of the planet, which is constantly metamorphosing, so that it is possible to articulate responses that help create cosmopolitan public policies, with plural, egalitarian, and democratic spaces for action.