Knowledge, risk and Beck: Misconceptions of expertise and risk

Ulrich Beck's work is beginning to alter how risk is understood. This paper maps out the core of Beck's argument and provides a critique of his analysis. In particular it argues that this emerging concept of risk is flawed because it is not rooted in an ontological view of knowledge and, hence, it misunderstands the relationship between experts, expert knowledge and lay knowledge. Because of his downgrading of ontology, Beck under-theorizes the politics of expertise and the sociality of knowledge hence we should be cautious in our use of his analysis of risk and organization in late modernity.It has been said civilization is a race between education and catastrophe. With Katrina, we have had the catastrophe, and we are racing inexorably toward the next. Americans want to know; what have we learned?(US Select Bipartisan Committee, 2006; ix)