--- title: German Sociologist Who Warned of the Risks of Technology Dies At 70 description: Ulrich Beck's 1986 book, 'Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity,' warned that technological advancement created a riskier society. canonical: https://time.com/3653184/ulrich-beck-sociologist-risk-society/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-05T06:12:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:15:52.917Z article:section: History og:title: German Sociologist Ulrich Beck Dies og:description: He was known for describing the risks of technological advancement og:url: https://time.com/3653184/ulrich-beck-sociologist-risk-society/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt566f2e7a170f1cc5/69877806a988ca30976abafd/h_51721602.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1429 og:image:height: 804 og:image:alt: Sociologist Ulrich Beck dies at age of 70 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: German Sociologist Ulrich Beck Dies twitter:description: He was known for describing the risks of technological advancement twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt566f2e7a170f1cc5/69877806a988ca30976abafd/h_51721602.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # German Sociologist Who Warned of the Risks of Technology Dies at 70 > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jan 5, 2015 6:12 AM UTC  A file picture dated in 1998 and made available on 03 January 2015 shows German professor and sociologist Ulrich Beck. A file picture dated in 1998 and made available on 03 January 2015 shows German professor and sociologist Ulrich Beck. MICHAEL SCHOERNING—EPA by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jan 5, 2015 6:12 AM UTC Renowned German sociologist Ulrich Beck, noted for his work examining the ways in which technology is creating a riskier society, [died](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/world/europe/ulrich-beck-sociologist-who-warned-of-dangers-of-technology-is-dead-at-70.html?%5Fr=0) on Thursday. Beck died of an apparent heart attack, the New York _Times_ reported, citing German media outlets. He was 70 years old, and is survived by his wife Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim. Born in 1944 in what is now the Polish city of Slupsk, Beck rose to prominence in 1986 with the publication of his book _Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity_, in which he argued that the modern society created as a result of technological advancement is inherently riskier than its industrial precursor. [Read more at the _NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/world/europe/ulrich-beck-sociologist-who-warned-of-dangers-of-technology-is-dead-at-70.html?%5Fr=0) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3653184/ulrich-beck-sociologist-risk-society/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3653184/ulrich-beck-sociologist-risk-society/"},"headline":"German Sociologist Who Warned of the Risks of Technology Dies at 70","datePublished":"2015-01-05T06:12:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:15:52.917Z","description":"He argued that our high-tech society was inherently riskier than its industrial precursor","url":"https://time.com/3653184/ulrich-beck-sociologist-risk-society/","keywords":["Technology","Germany","heart attack","Dead","risk","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt566f2e7a170f1cc5/69877806a988ca30976abafd/h_51721602.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt566f2e7a170f1cc5/69877806a988ca30976abafd/h_51721602.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sociologist Ulrich Beck dies at age of 70","caption":"Sociologist Ulrich Beck dies at age of 70","creditText":"MICHAEL SCHOERNING—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3653184/ulrich-beck-sociologist-risk-society/","name":"German Sociologist Who Warned of the Risks of Technology Dies at 70"}}]}] ```