Science in the World Risk Society

Risk, the Novel, and Global Climate Change
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dc.bibliographicCitation.firstPage207en_US
dc.bibliographicCitation.issue2en_US
dc.bibliographicCitation.lastPage221en_US
dc.bibliographicCitation.volume64en_US
dc.contributor.authorMayer, Sylvia
dc.contributor.editorSchaffeld, Norbert
dc.date.accessioned2022-11-08T14:38:44Z
dc.date.available2022-11-08T14:38:44Z
dc.date.issued2016en_US
dc.description.abstractAnthropogenic climate change constitutes one of the major global risks of our time. In spite of widespread scientific consensus, however, climate change discourse is still characterized by controversy. This controversy reflects both a variety of conflicting interests that frame the perception of climate change and a fundamental trend in our age of reflexive modernity: an increased awareness of scientific uncertainty and a loss of trust in scientific authority. It also defines our current cultural moment as paradoxical: societies worldwide are simultaneously characterized by such increased awareness of scientific uncertainty and by reliance on scientific knowledge to a historically unprecedented degree. According to Ulrich Beck, this paradox in part defines what he conceived of as a new manifestation of modern society, the ‘world risk society.’ This essay addresses the fictional contribution to the risk discourse of global climate change. After introducing the role of science in the world risk society and the climate change novel as a fictional risk narrative, it discusses how Susan M. Gaines’ Carbon Dreams (2001) and Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior (2012) engage with this paradox, how they explore the complex socioeconomic, political, and cultural significance of climate science and the role and experience of climate scientists.en_US
dc.description.publisherNoteDieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich. / This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1515/zaa-2016-0019
dc.identifier.urihttp://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?fidaac-11858/2611
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.relation.issn2196-4726en_US
dc.relation.journalZeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistiken_US
dc.relation.journalaltA Quarterly of Language, Literature and Cultureen_US
dc.rightsL::The Stacks Licenseen_US
dc.subject.ddcddc:810en_US
dc.subject.fieldamericanstudiesen_US
dc.subject.fieldenvironmentalstudiesen_US
dc.subject.fieldliterarystudiesen_US
dc.titleScience in the World Risk Societyen_US
dc.title.alternativeRisk, the Novel, and Global Climate Changeen_US
dc.title.specialissueAspects of the Science Novelen_US
dc.typearticleen_US
dc.type.versionpublishedVersionen_US
dspace.entity.typePublication
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