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The notion of risk

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The risk model brings to the fore the perception of an event that may occur, in “a future that may happen” (Beck 1986), which is not fully within our control. This event is sensed (and is not yet happening or real) as a danger that we must anticipate by picturing it and taking precautionary measures. This becomes a reverse causation of our action. Paradoxically, we tend to ask ourselves: how can we avoid the risks (even though it is the awareness of the risk which can ward off danger)? The perception of risk(s) then becomes a situation whereby the activity is associated with its uncertainties. Risk is distinct from danger, whose probability it relates to; it is distinct from the sole threat insofar as it is nourished by the perceptions that we have of it. Thus, for Ulrich Beck, at the heart of a civilization of risk, “risk has become the measure of our action”1. He describes the evolution of human and political action, linked to “scientific–technical–economic modernization”, as a response to the disorders resulting from its development (industry, environment, economy, etc.). Risk does not designate danger; it constitutes the answer in line with an analysis or a preventive action. It becomes a model for the development of human conduct, a reason for action. For Beck, risk is integrated into a positive culture. With reference to “emancipatory catastrophe”, he calls for new regulations of the human mind by making it the principle of an anticipatory consciousness and of an action that supposes taking risks. “Risk”, for Beck, is not only the danger but also its perception and a critical modality that calls for a positive culture of change and a reflexive steering of action. Digital risks, associated with the socio-technical modernity described by Beck, are new challenges that require the construction of “new regulations for action”: for Beck, this is a “disruptive innovation”. Major cultural transformations are taking place, such as that of digital activity, along with its uncertainties and possibilities.

Perceptions and Analysis of Digital Risks

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