Abstract
In scholarly and public debate, risk-taking is a disputed concept. Risk-taking is considered an exceptional as well as an ordinary activity; an expression of vulnerability as much as a means to challenge and overcome social boundaries; it is considered a part of human nature as well as a socially shaped activity. Experts have been puzzled why and how people sometimes take risks which seem unreasonable at a first glance. This chapter positions the book in the broader debate on risk-taking and argues for an interpretivist approach aiming to reconstructing the meaning of risk-taking and how it is shaped by social forces and individual experience. It gives an overview of the book structure and argument.
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Notes
- 1.
Helen Keller (1880–1968), American author, political activist and lecturer was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
- 2.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835–1910) or better known as Mark Twain was an American writer, humourist, entrepreneur, publisher and lecturer.
- 3.
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Zinn, J.O. (2020). Introduction. In: Understanding Risk-Taking. Critical Studies in Risk and Uncertainty. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28650-7_1
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