A great deal of attention has been devoted to risk research. Sociologists in general have limited themselves to varying recognitions of a society at risk and have traced out the paths to disaster. The detailed research has yet to be undertaken. In Risk, now available in paperback, Niklas Luhmann develops a theoretical program for such research. His premise is that the concept of risk projects essential aspects of our description of the future onto the present. Risk is conceived as the possibility of triggering unexpected, unlikely, and detrimental consequences by means of a decision attributable to a decision maker.
尼克拉斯•卢曼（Niklas Luhmann，1927—1998），自马克斯•韦伯以来最有创见的德国社会学家，与尤尔根•哈贝马斯齐名，社会系统理论的旗帜性人物。他的影响已越出社会学领域，为社会学、系统科学和诸多其他学科开创了惊世的见解与崭新的视角。他是当代 极少数确实改变了观察范式的社会学家之一，他倡导“社会学启蒙”，于1989年获得德国哲学界最高荣誉之一“黑格尔奖”，享有“社会学中的黑格尔”之名。卢曼一生著述颇丰，包括《宗教教义与社会演化》《权力》《信任：一个社会复杂性的简化机制》《社会的经济》《社会的法律》《法社会学》等。