[Initial Perspective] The 'Risk Society' Humanity Faces Requires the Wisdom of Solidarity and Cooperation

Facing New Risks Brought by Industrial Growth
Urgent Need to Build Trust Instead of Confrontation and Conflict

Ulrich Beck, a world-renowned German sociologist, presented the concept of the "risk society" as a core idea expressing modernity. His concept, along with Anthony Giddens' theory, which gained popular attention towards the end of the 20th century, expanded into ideas such as reflexive modernization and the second modernity, providing opportunities for deep reflection and contentious debate.

To summarize Beck's theory: humanity has improved the environment to reduce various dangers, but the inventions devised to reduce these dangers have themselves caused new risks. In particular, the rapid growth of industry and technology has amplified various risks. The risk society focuses on the phenomenon where prioritizing the reduction of these new risks becomes inevitable.

Although humanity is managing to endure, it is anxious due to worsening extreme weather events year after year, increasingly frequent financial crises, ongoing terrorism and wars, and pandemics. The climate crisis, which is heading towards the worst-case scenario, the war in Ukraine that has lasted over a year, high inflation and steep interest rate hikes, and the collapse of global supply chains are just a few examples that are hard to list exhaustively.

South Korea's situation is even more challenging. Last year, South Korea's total fertility rate was 0.78, ranking the lowest among OECD countries. It has been the lowest since 2013. If this trend continues, it is expected to drop to 0.61 by 2025. While the driving force of the future generation is weakening, the suicide rate and elderly poverty rate per 100,000 people are at their highest levels.

The economy is on thin ice due to low growth and the global trend of rising benchmark interest rates. Although the government has belatedly stepped in, real household income in the fourth quarter of last year already decreased by 1.1% compared to the previous year, and the average new delinquency rate at commercial banks rose more than twofold to 0.09%. Considering the crisis already beginning among vulnerable groups, the situation in Ukraine, the U.S. interest rate hike trend, and early signs of a global food crisis, it is difficult to dispel the anxiety.

Coincidentally, even politics, which should be the last line of defense, is adding uncertainty to the risks. The presidential office and the ruling party are continuing so-called "rhetoric" politics by opposing the previous government's policies, and they are fueling distrust by releasing immature economic, welfare, and labor measures that lag behind the exposed risks. There are no notable achievements in security diplomacy aimed at denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula or in economic diplomacy to avoid being sidelined from the center of the global supply chain.

Moreover, conflicts surrounding fairness and justice seem to further fuel confusion and uncertainty in values. Uncertainty causes anxiety, and extreme anxiety inevitably damages trust. When trust is damaged, any response to risks is unlikely to work effectively. In fact, the social capital of South Korea, as recently reported by the international research organization World Values Survey, is at a precarious level. Only 32.9% of respondents answered that they generally trust people, placing South Korea in the lower ranks compared to New Zealand, Germany, the United States, and Japan. Trust in the government, parliament, and the media was also low, at 12.9%, 14.2%, and 13.7%, respectively.

Beck, who passed away in 2015, proposed the wisdom of "solidarity" and "cooperation" as a solution to overcoming the risk society. He emphasized the necessity of solidarity between individuals, alliances between communities, and cooperation between nations. When he visited South Korea in 2014, he stressed, "If the government loses trust, the risk is multiplied by distrust in the political system. Trust must be built first, and then specific methods should be sought." In today's world, where various social, economic, and political risks lurk and confrontation and conflict have become commonplace, this advice seems worth revisiting.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.