Risk of power — power of risk

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the risk of power and power of risk analysis, definitions of risk and substantiation of its objective nature, which is determined by the system of ruling social relations. Criticism is presented of Luhmann’s and Beck’s views, which ignore the objective nature of risk and its definitions. The risk of power and power of risk are concepts that reflect the different summation of connections and relations, where risk acts as a means for maintaining a dominant relationship. Objectivity of risk stems from the fact that the prevailing relationship is not a product of independent initiatives by people, but it is a result of relations mediated by items and things in which the mediator transforms itself from an ordinary “panderer” into absolute power of influence over an individual. The mediator becomes objective power, in other words, subjectless power which eventually submits to human will and substantiates powerwielding actions and power-wielding decisions, which aspire to the subjectless power’s pole and is at risk for losing power. While rotating between subjectless power and the individual, the repulsion force from individuals’ interests surpasses the force of attraction towards them. Risk, being woven into dominant relations, separates into independent being as a means of preserving these relations, in the form of negating the positive prospects of individual being, shifting social risks onto the shoulders of individuals, and turning them into subjective risks whereby the individual bears fully responsibility when making wrong decisions. Metamorphoses of the reduction of objective risks, inherent in society, into subjective and individual risks and the reduction of individual risks into objective and public risks, through a complex system of relations and interdependencies, end in conflict. Within conflict, risk is objectified in actions, which demolish the opposition of negative prospects. Conflict asserts a relations’ system in which risk weakens and fades.