The concept of social risks perception

The purpose of this paper is to present an approach of structural perception of risks associated with human security, which is based on the research carried out at the Faculty of Special Engineering, University of Zilina. The risks relating to human security have a specific nature, which is based in their consequences impacting simultaneously on both humans personally and on the whole of society. Therefore, such risks are distinctive by the two forms they can be perceived in – individual and societal. Generally, we refer to these risks as social risks. The presented concept of social risk perception provides a fundamental theoretical framework, which is the precondition of understanding the background of social risk complexity. Social risk and its perception are important concepts for national and regional policies, because the understanding of how people and the broader community perceive risk contributes to successful social risk analysis and consecutively to developing effective measures for reducing or eliminating of social risks