In Ulrich Beck, Mads P. Sørensen and Allan Christiansen provide an extensive and thorough introduction to the German sociologist's collected works. Focusing on the theory outlined in Beck's chief work, Risk Society, and on his theory of second modernity, Sørensen and Christiansen explain the sociologist's ideas and writing in a clear and accessible way.

Mads P. Sørensen is senior researcher at the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy, Aarhus University. He is author and co-author of several books, book chapters and journal articles on - among others - Ulrich Beck, subpolitics, political consumerism, Karl Marx and Adam Smith.

Allan Christiansen is Head of Development and Coaching in a major Danish industrial group and is also part-time lecturer at the Department of Business Communication, Aarhus University, Business and Social Science.

Preface. 1. Introduction and a Short Biography 2. Risk Society: The Return of Uncertainty 3. The Theory of Second Modernity: Ulrich Beck's Diagnosis of Contemporary Modernity 4. Individualization: Doomed to Live a Life of One's Own 5. Globalization and Cosmopolitanism: Living in an Interconnected World 6. Sociology, Science and Politics in Second Modernity 7. The Third Industrial Revolution: The End of Full Employment Society 8. Critique of Ulrich Beck's Sociology. Bibliography of Ulrich Beck.