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The Celebration of Risk

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Law, Insecurity and Risk Control

Part of the book series: Crime Prevention and Security Management ((CPSM))

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Abstract

The Age of Unreason (Handy 1989) was only one contribution to an emerging popular literature in which it was claimed that the reappearance of risk would open up a new world of opportunity, one in which the enterprising would be able to flourish as never before. Of course, this would also bring uncertainty but, in this literature, that was nothing to be afraid of. Uncertainty would also bring endless challenges to test human potential and would maximise the possibilities of existence—in contrast to the lethargy produced by the caging of risk in the post-1945 era.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The crude marriage rate (i.e., the number of marriages per 1000 population) in Australia decreased from 7.4 in 1980 to 4.6 in 2017. Similarly in Canada from 7.8 in 1980 to 4.4 in 2008. In New Zealand from 7.4 in 1980 to 4.3 in 2017. In the UK from 7.5 in 1980 to 4.4 in 2015. In the US from 10.4 in 1980 to 6.9 in 2015.

  2. 2.

    The crude divorce rate (i.e., the number of divorces per 1000 population) in Australia in 1980 was 2.7; in 2017 it was 2.0. In Canada in 1980 it was 2.6, in 2008 it was 2.1 (Statistics Canada stopped tracking national divorce rates in 2008). In New Zealand in 1980 it was 2.1; in 2017 it was 1.7. In the UK in 1980 it was 3.0; in 2016 it was 1.8. In the US in 1980 it was 5.2; in 2015 it was 2.5.

  3. 3.

    In New Zealand in 1981, twelve per cent of households were lone-parent families; in 2013 it was eighteen per cent. In Canada, lone-parent families constituted eleven per cent of all families in 1981, sixteen per cent in 2011. In the US 19.5 per cent in 1980, and twenty-seven per cent in 2012. In Australia, 8.6 per cent in 1981 and fifteen per cent in 2011. In the UK, fourteen per cent in 1981, and twenty-five per cent in 2014.

  4. 4.

    The percentage of zero- to fourteen-year-olds in the total population has been as follows over the course of the last century. In Australia in 1901, thirty-five per cent; in 1960, thirty per cent; and in 2015, nineteen per cent. In Canada in 1901, thirty-four per cent; in 1961, thirty-four per cent; and in 2015, sixteen per cent. In England and Wales in 1911, thirty-two per cent; in 1960, twenty-three per cent; and eighteen per cent in 2015. In New Zealand in 1936, twenty-six per cent; in 1960, thirty-three per cent; and in 2015, twenty per cent. In the US in 1900 (1900 excludes Alaska & Hawaii), thirty-four per cent; in 1960, thirty-one per cent; and in 2015, nineteen per cent.

  5. 5.

    In Canada in 1981, six per cent of families were considered to be “common law” families, in 2011 that number was seventeen per cent. In the UK in 1996, nine per cent of families were “cohabitating”; in 2014 that figure was 16.4 per cent. In Australia, cohabitants increased from five per cent of households to fifteen per cent in 2006. In New Zealand, eight per cent of people who were partnered were in de facto relationships according to the 1986 census, in 2013 that number was twenty-two per cent. In the US, living arrangements of adults eighteen years and over show that the number of unmarried partners living together has risen from 1.9 per cent in 1980 to 7.5 per cent in 2015 according to the US Census.

  6. 6.

    This was a prominent BBC programme that ran from 1942 to 1959. Leading intellectuals would discuss questions sent to them by viewers or listeners (the programme began on the radio but then moved to television).

  7. 7.

    This 1987 movie, has Michael Douglas, playing the corrupt stock-market dealer Gordon Gecko, coin the phrase “greed is good.”

  8. 8.

    For example, particular emphasis was given to the pleasures found in a comfy suburban retreat in the UK in the 1980s: “Leaving the office at 5.30 and getting to the golf course at 5.45 is a new way of life” (Times 1989, 34). In Canada, consumerism provided an alternative lifestyle by allowing the purchase of time and convenience: The Globe and Mail notes that “more and more households will have VCRs, microwave ovens, compact disc players, telephone answering machines—anything that makes life easier or saves time” (Munn 1989, F8). In the US in the 1990s, dog fashion shows in New York demonstrate the extent of lavish conspicuous consumption, with reports of “23 designers making dog-and-people clothes for a dog fashion show called Canine Couture” (Green 1999, 9). There were also purchases by very opulent celebrities of gentrified property: “At 18 East 71st Street work is nearing completion on a $1.2 million interior reconstruction for the new owner, Bill Cosby” (Kennedy 1990, A1). In Australia the emphasis shifted from purchasing “lifestyle properties” on remote coastlines in the 1990s to “a strong lifestyle movement to the inner city away from the outer suburbs. People like to live closer to facilities like restaurants, cafes, shops and transport” (Wellings 2009, 6). In New Zealand, beach homes on the coast remain popular. In the UK in the 2000s, tranquil rural life was no longer enough in itself. Under the article title “What Makes a Great Village? A Latte,” the Times observed that “the baby-boomer generation … are internet and tech-savvy and they are tuned in. They want to travel the world, have a great social life and enjoy the rest of their lives. … The most appealing rural locations are either accessible to a large town or are near a railway station” (Carponen 2016, 10). At the same time, the purchase of consumer goods has become a way of advertising one’s prowess, success and the ensuing status this brings. As in Canada, with the bestselling urban “dude truck,” however, impractical it was for urban life: the Globe and Mail reports that “the Ford F-150 is the top selling vehicle in North America. The 150’s rise is part of the pickup trucks ascent from humble work tool to high-priced lifestyle symbol” (Cheney 2015, D1). Rising sales of SUVs in New Zealand illustrate the way in which “the bigger, flasher, better your car, the bigger, flasher, better you are” (Speer 2012).

  9. 9.

    Of course, there is real danger to such ventures, even though they are likely to be purchased with little inkling of the extent of this danger. This graphically came to light when tourists from a cruise liner paid for a visit to White Island volcano off the New Zealand coast in December 2019. It erupted during the course of their visit and, as of January 14, 2020, eighteen of them had died as a result of the burns they received in the course of this incident.

  10. 10.

    Not everywhere, of course, is so well endowed with places of interest as Liverpool. Hartlepool, for example, on the north east coast lists a local supermarket on its “places of interest” on a civic map (Drury 2019).

  11. 11.

    This account was based on my first “exploration” of this area in 2018. By mid-2019, my second one, the border had broken down as regeneration of Tenderloin got underway, spreading its previously confined population more extensively into the tourist areas.

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  1. Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    John Pratt

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Correspondence to John Pratt .

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Pratt, J. (2020). The Celebration of Risk. In: Law, Insecurity and Risk Control. Crime Prevention and Security Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48872-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48872-7_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-48871-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-48872-7

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