Disasters in society of risk, uncertainty and fear: The case of COVID-19

This study tries to discuss the concepts of risk, uncertainty and fear with a sociological perspective in terms of Covid-19. In December 2019, Covid-19, which is thought to have originated in Wuhan, Hubei province of China and was later declared an epidemic by WHO. Covid-19, which can be considered as a biological and global disaster type, has been observed to turn into a phenomenon that reflects the concepts of risk, uncertainty and fear, which are the basic characteristics of the modern age. The relationship between these concepts and Covid 19 was analyzed primarily based on the idea of "risk society" of Ulrich Beck and literature review. Thereby, an attempt was made to determine the situation. Although Covid-19 as a disaster reflects the general characteristics of disasters in terms of disrupting the social order, it has been seen that it is intertwined with the climate of risk, uncertainty and fear that is specific to the modern age and encountered mostly in modern societies. Modern societies; on the one hand, it try to control dangers, make the "unknowable" known, and on this occasion suppress social fears, while generating new risks, new uncertainties and new social fears. Covid-19 is a concrete example of that. Modern societies due to having the characteristics such as deterioration of the human-nature relationship,inequality, technological developments and globalization, has caused Covid-19 to spread much faster, the uncertainty has continued in these societies for a long time, a great fear has prevailed due to the risk and uncertainty that has been felt by these very same societies.