Governing risks in modern Britain - Tom Crook

Formore than 200 years, everyday life in Britain has been beset by a variety ofdangers, from the mundane to the life-threatening. Governing Risks in Modern Britainfocuses on the steps taken tomanage these dangers and to prevent accidents since approximately 1800. Itbrings together cutting-edge research to help us understand the multiple andcontested ways in which dangers have been governed. It demonstrates that thecategory of 'risk', broadly defined, provides a new means of historicising somekey developments in British society. Chapters explore road safety and policing,environmental and technological dangers, and occupational health and safety. Thebook thus brings together practices and ideas previously treated in isolation, situatingthem in a common context of risk-related debates, dilemmas and difficulties. Doingso, it argues, advances our understanding of how modern British society hasbeen governed and helps to set our risk-obsessed present in some much neededhistorical perspective.