Risk society and the NHS—From the traditional to the new citizen?

Much has been written about reflexive modernity and risk society in the recent past. It has been argued that a shift has occurred within late modernity which has led to the emergence of the reflexive citizen. Supposedly, this citizen engages with his or her world in ways that are significantly different to the past. This paper maps out the thrust of these theories, some criticisms of them and then outlines a strategy for researching them. It does so by explaining how these changes can be traced through an examination of NHS Direct, the UK telephone health advice line.