World risk society produces new lines of conflict. Unlike the national industrial society of first modernity, which was marked by socio-economic conflicts between labour and capital, and unlike the international conflict constellations of the East-West conflict, which were characterized by questions of political security, the lines of conflict of world risk society are cultural ones. To the extent that global risks evade calculation by scientific methods, are a matter of not-knowing, then the cultural perception , that is, the post-religious,
quasi-religious belief in the reality of world risk, assumes a key significance.