ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses upon the definition of key terms and the consideration of different cultural risk perspectives. It defines the terms culture, education and risk, and discusses the links between these three concepts. The book considers risk and culture, focusing on four different risk theories, namely the psychometric risk paradigm, the 'risk society' perspective, cultural hermeneutic approaches to risk and risk discourse analysis. The 'risk society' approach attempts to understand hazards that operate at a macro-political level. Drawing upon social anthropology and interpretative sociology, cultural, hermeneutic approaches maintain that risk is always social. Therefore, any understanding of risk needs to be situated within the cultural and political settings that gave rise to it. Educational researchers need to adopt the cultural risk perspective that best suits their research question and theoretical disposition.
