Ulrich Beck was one of the leading sociologists of today. His idea of the risk society – later developed into the idea of the world risk society – marked contemporary social theory. His latest work was mostly dedicated to the issues of Europeanization and building of cosmopolitan Europe. He taught sociology at the University of Munich, and held appointments at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (FMSH) in Paris, and at the London School of Economic (LSE). He authored more than twenty books. Four of his books – Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, World Risk Society, Cosmopolitan Europe, and German Europe – were translated into dozen of languages. Equally important and influential are his books: The Normal Chaos of Love (with Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim, Polity Press/Blackwell, 1995 [1990]), Ecological Politics in an Age of Risk (Polity Press/Blackwell, 1995 [1988]), The Reinvention of Politics: Rethinking Modernity in the Social Global Order (Polity Press/Blackwell, 1997 [1993]), Democracy without Enemies (Polity Press/Blackwell, 1998 [1995]), What is Globalization? (Polity Press/Blackwell, 2000 [1997]), The Brave New World of Work (Polity Press/Blackwell, 2000 [1999]), Individualization (with E. Beck-Gernsheim, Sage Publications, 2002), Power in the Global Age: A New Global Political Economy (Polity Press, 2005 [2002]), Cosmopolitan Vision (Polity Press, 2006 [2004], Distant Love (with E. Beck-Gernsheim, Polity Press, 2014 [2011]).
