A New Conceptual Tool for the Sociological Study of Voluntary Risk-Taking

Despite the innovation and usefulness of the edgework perspective, not all voluntary risk-taking is edgework. This paper outlines the analytical promise of a different concept we can use as a theoretical tool for the sociological study of voluntary risk-taking. The contention is that this different concept can help us to identify and examine another of the forms of voluntary risk-taking. Deployed as a theoretical tool, it allows us to examine the importance for the individual and for the society of voluntary risk-taking practices when they assume an explicit and deliberate socio-political and ethical form, role and manner. A number of empirical examples will be used to demonstrate the potential analytical purchase of the concept. The paper will conclude by raising the prospect that this different concept can open up an unexplored area of investigation for the sociological study of voluntary risk-taking.