The concept ‘risk society’, a term coined by German sociologist Ulrich Beck, was discussed in depth both by Beck himself and English sociologist Anthony Giddens. Both authors use the term to theorize modern societies in the context of intensifying globalisation, where the most relevant risks to members of a modern society are ‘manufactured’ (man-made) rather than naturally occurring. While Giddens maintained that society’s class structure moderates these risks, Beck’s work remained more closely centred on the concept of risk society itself, complete with a rich terminology of related phenomena, and the claim that ‘risk society’ will eventually transform ‘class society’.2 Beck’s writings proved inspiring to researchers, but also attracted criticism. In the context of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the subsequent ‘Great Recession’ after 2008, a number of researchers who addressed the housing and household-related finance consequences of the crisis also incorporated the notion of the risk society and some of the related concepts into their analysis. This was inspired not only by Beck’s (and Giddens’) works, but also by the realization that households have come to bear a far greater share of the risks of financing housing than in previous major economic downturns due to the long-standing, gradual ‘socialization’ of these risks. These accounts suggest a public policy discourse in which risks are presumed to be evenly or ‘fairly’ distributed among social actors; however, in real life outcomes they prove to more significantly affect lower income and vulnerable social strata. In this sense, risk society does not replace class society – instead, the distribution of risks reinforces or even exacerbates class divisions.

中文翻译：

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住房中的风险社会：责任化和风险社会化

“风险社会”这一概念是德国社会学家乌尔里希·贝克 (Ulrich Beck) 创造的一个术语，贝克本人和英国社会学家安东尼·吉登斯 (Anthony Giddens) 都深入讨论过。两位作者都使用该术语在全球化加剧的背景下对现代社会进行理论化，其中与现代社会成员最相关的风险是“制造”（人为）而不是自然发生的。虽然吉登斯认为社会的阶级结构可以缓和这些风险，但贝克的工作仍然更紧密地围绕风险社会本身的概念，并辅以丰富的相关现象术语，以及“风险社会”最终将改变“阶级社会”的主张。 2 贝克的著作对研究人员颇有启发，但也招致批评。在全球金融危机 (GFC) 和 2008 年之后的“大衰退”背景下，一些研究危机对住房和家庭相关金融后果的研究人员也将风险社会的概念和一些相关概念纳入了他们的分析。这不仅受到贝克（和吉登斯）作品的启发，而且还认识到，由于长期的、渐进的，家庭承担的住房融资风险比以前的主要经济衰退要大得多。这些风险的社会化。这些说明暗示了一种公共政策话语，其中假定风险在社会参与者之间均匀或“公平”分布；然而，在现实生活中，事实证明它们对低收入和弱势社会阶层的影响更为显着。从这个意义上说，风险社会并没有取代阶级社会——相反，