The «critical case»: Social order in the «Risk society»

Abstract

This article analyzes the phenomenon of the “critical case”, which is the condition of “risk society”, when production of disasters and destructions is the dominant method of social production. These cases can arise in the way of continuous social devolution and they can be constructed by political methods. The considered case is the legitimization of risks’ production, which is favorable to the forces located outside the critical zone. This case is a humanitarian disaster, which leads to irreparable damage of a human capital. In the considered case social order loses its universal nature and becomes privatized. In other words, the “critical case” is irrational social order, which forces sociologists reconsider the issue of norm and pathology etc.