Societies at risk and the multiple factors that weaken social relations in times of pandemic

Abstract

This text is a reflection on the perceptions of risk, social inequality, violence, and their impacts on societies in times of pandemic. Addressing the interrelationships between these concepts and the factors that weaken social relations is a problem that still lacks discussion. In discussing these concepts, the aim of the present text is to analyze, although briefly, some conceptual and epistemological proposals and implications of the thought of Ulrich Beck and Niklas Luhmann on reflexive modernization, global risk societies and social systems. In addition, the text examines the social psychologist Mary Jane Spink’s considerations on risk from the point of view of the production of meanings. The text also discusses the paradoxical relationship between autonomy and vulnerability in the human "thinking and acting" of the Paul Ricoeur. The scenario of deepening inequalities and violence among vulnerable groups in these times of pandemic, most evident due to the growth in homicide and unemployment rates, is also discussed in the last three years. These analyses help to understand the insecurity that the risk society faces on a daily basis, such as a pandemic, which can further weaken the basic living conditions of vulnerable populations while expanding inequalities and violence.