Metamorphosis of the World

Ulrich Beck 1944-2015) was Professor of Sociology at the University of Munich and the LSE and one of the greatest sociologists of the twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries.

• ForewordPrefaceIntroduction, Evidence, TheoryChapter I. Why metamorphosis of the world, why not transformation?Chapter II. Being GodChapter III. How climate change might save the worldChapter IV. Theorising metamorphosisThemesChapter V. From class to risk-class: Inequality in times of metamorphosisChapter VI. Where does the power go? Politics of invisibilityChapter VII. Emancipatory catastrophism: Common goods as side effects of badsChapter VIII. Public bads: Politics of visibilityChapter IX. Digital risk: Failing of functioning institutionsChapter X. Meta-power game of politics: Metamorphosis of the nation and international relationsChapter XI. Cosmopolitan communities of risk: From United Nations to United CitiesOutlookChapter XII. Global Risk Generations: United in declineBibliography

'This book, which its author, one of the most original and perceptive thinkers of our time, was prevented from completing by a sudden catastrophe, reads as a most thorough and exhaustive – indeed complete – description of our world: a world defined by its endemic incompleteness and dedicated to resisting completion.'—Zygmunt Bauman 'This brilliant manifesto is in good part Ulrich Beck having a debate with himself. He comes out winning, because whatever doubts or disagreements he may have with himself, he moves on, never losing sight of the foundational distinction he is after – transformation vs metamorphosis. The text oscillates between deeply engaging philosophical reflections and decisive interpretive outcomes. And there is no need to worry about the unresolved doubts Beck puts on the table: they are certain to become a great research project for future generations.' —Saskia Sassen, Columbia University 'Amid crises, challenges, and startling innovations the world is taking on a new shape and character. Quantitative change gives way to qualitative on dimensions from inequality through climate change. The new reality is by definition not completely knowable, but we can know the path to it better by reading Ulrich Beck's sadly but somehow also aptly unfinished book, The Metamorphosis of the World.' —Craig Calhoun, Director, London School of Economics and Political Science