Sustainability through unsustainability? Unintended consequences and emancipatory catastrophism

Based on Beck’s sociological theory, the goal of this chapter is to point out a specific implication of the role of unintended dynamics in social change: what Albert O. Hirschman called “blessings in disguise”2—the concept of emancipatory catastrophism. This concept refers to the hidden emancipatory side effects of global risk. Beck’s argument is that modern environmental catastrophes may ironically have the potential to bring about major, constructive changes in the way social actors organize their lives and societies. In other words, extreme “bad” harbors the potential to create normative horizons of common “good,” stimulating reflection on questions of justice.