CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT VS. TECHNOPHOBIA: THE RISKS OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES (Editorial)

The contribution shows how the concept of risk has developed in the history of sociology, its relationship to science and technology (S&T), and the current challenges. It argues that the progress of S&T is a double-edged sword that can create risky situations, while also giving the means to frame (and overcome) those situations. As such, scientific and technological progress is at once both the cause and the solution to the problems and threats facing modern society, something that necessitates analyses which critically engage with the implications of their developments. Finally, this was also the thrust of discussions at the meeting of the Section of Sociology of Science and Technology (SSTNET) of the European Sociological Association (ESA) held in Ljubljana on 11-72 October 2018.