Blackwell Reference Online

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Uncertainty is characterized by cognitive and emotional elements. Uncertainty indicates unclear, ambiguous, or contradictory cognitive constructions, which cause feelings of uncertainty. In sociology as well as economics, uncertainty is about expectations. It refers to the future and whether our expectations will be met and also to the present and our capacity to produce expectations. Typically, norms and institutions structure our expectations. They support clear and unambiguous notions and expectations even though they are always – to a certain degree – uncertain ( Luhmann 1993 ). Sociological classics (e.g. by Durkheim, Gehlen, Parsons, and Erikson) see the destabilization of institutions and normative expectations caused by social change as something negative. The destabilization of expectations would produce feelings of uncertainty, and can even lead to an increase in suicides ( Durkheim 2002 |1952|). More recently, the term uncertainty became prominent in the discourse on reflexive modernization ( Beck 1992 ; Giddens 1991 ) and the thesis of the risk society and institutional individualization ( Beck 1992 ). A growing complexity, diversity, and instability would destabilize expectations, and awareness of lack of knowledge, especially regarding new risks (e.g., global warming, ozone-layer depletion, nuclear contamination, genetically modified food) which cannot be calculated ... log in or subscribe to read full text