Analyses of contemporary society emphasize the decreasing stability and predictability of social conditions and the increasing uncertainty accompanying individuals. According to the tradition that exists in the social sciences, uncertainty is related to the risk of making decisions and the impossibility of predicting their consequences. Risk is now conceptualized differently in society than in traditional societies. Knowledge about risk and how to deal with it is unrelated to an individual's everyday life and the individual's subjective perception of the world. In an attempt to manage risk, individuals have to resort to expert knowledge that is alien to their experience. Describing the conditions of functioning of individuals in post=modernity, some authors propose the concept of ontological uncertainty. This concept refers to the situation of the presence of many schemes of action in the absence of clear indications as to which of them is the correct one. An individual forced to take control over his own biography and identity is deprived of clear guidelines telling him how to do it. This creates a sense of confusion and uncertainty.
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