This work offers an overview and analysis of nuclear, global environmental and biotechnological dangers, threats and hazards in the context of public debates about risk from the 1950s to the present. It considers what impact these risks and debates are having on society, transforming underlying cultural assumptions (for example about nature) but also public communication, social institutions, and even the way society is organized. Piet Strydom reconstructs public debates and social scientific theories to provide a fresh approach to the risk society. From this comes a new theoretical perspective for studying the emerging social conditions of the 21st century. The result is a valuable text for students and researchers across a range of areas including sociology, environmental studies, politics, and cultural and communications studies.