ABSTRACT
This chapter argues for a contextual approach to young and middle-aged men's risk-taking practices with motor vehicles. As many scholars have argued, young people tend to construct their own risk hierarchies within their social and cultural contexts where education, family and the peer group are powerful sources of influence. The chapter explores how people can understand men's risk-taking practices with motor vehicles and how gender, age, class and place are negotiated in relation to risk-taking practices. By engaging with two different cases, Volvo greasers and car modifiers in Sweden, the chapter critically discusses the practices of men in relation to gendered conceptions and the construction and enactment of masculinities in the context of motor vehicles and dangerous driving. The chapter situates risk-taking with motor vehicles and shows the importance of context: how the spatial, sociocultural and technological context informs and is informed by risk-taking practices on an individual and a social level.
