For those who don’t regularly partake in the dark, ironic arts of social theory, I would recommend Ulrich Beck’s Risk Society (1987) as a work that speaks to real life whilst looking at the big picture. It’s a good read in great English, and (despite being written in the aftermath of Chernobyl) resonates sharply with the steaminess of the climate crisis.

I went with some undergrad homies to hear Beck in a free lecture at the LSE on Wednesday in which he talked about “remapping social inequalities and power in the age of climate change”. Hardly cheery stuff, even by the standards of social science, but what did I expect? There’s a bit too much to relate here, but among the more interesting among his many points were the distinctively sociological ones (author bias accepted) - particularly ones about how a normative heart beats in the supposedly value-free body of climate research. And furthermore, Beck took pains to position his theory as post-Copenhagen, and analytical of the processes that we saw played out there. Beck reminded us of how, even though the crisis represents a blurring of the lines between state, non-state and trans-state actors - a shift he calls “cosmopolitanisation” - the Copenhagen discussions played out on the same old national borders and historical narratives, with countries like Brazil and China invoking postcolonialism to justify agreements and disagreements.

The talk should appear soon as a podcast on the LSE website, and I recommend downloading it to all those who want a critically-minded look at the environmental hullaballoo, one that stands outside the believer/skeptic tussle.

Beck has his flaws as a speaker (heavy German accent, too much unnecessary jargon) and in the context of an hour-long lecture, the normally clear consistency of his thought condensed to clumpiness. But still, I enjoyed it. And not least because of the sensation that institutions like the LSE are unafraid to make some of their best thinkers available for free exhibition and dialogue with any old joe off the street. If they’d start speaking in English rather than inventing their own language on the hoof, maybe even more people would show up…

Find out about and sign up to attend free LSE lectures here. Podcasts appear on the same site. Their twitter feed is LSEpublicevents.

posted by Andrew