Pedro Hespanha
Revista Critica de Ciências Sociais
Revista Critica de Ciências Sociais
Eurozine
Individualization, fragmentation, and social risk in globalized societies
Pedro Hespanha
The author reflects on the processes
through which globalization is causing the
corrosion of the structures of internal
cohesion in contemporary societies and
at the same time leading to an increasing
risk of marginalization and exclusion for
growing sectors of the population. As one
of these processes, social differentiation is
related to phenomena that are quite visible in contemporary societies, such as the
increase of inequality, the growing marginalization
of certain groups, and the gradual
destruction of social solidarities. The
text begins by analyzing two of the most
obvious effects of the process of social
differentiation (social segmentation and
individualization in social life) and then
focuses on the exacerbation of social risk
and its relative invisibility.
Portuguese society is taken as a reference
point for this discussion, and evidence is
provided by the results of the studies made
in the context of the project Portuguese
Society vis-à-vis the Challenges Globalization.