ABSTRACT
In this chapter we introduce social theories of practice as the theoretical framework underlying the book. With this framework we can analyse young people’s risk-taking as practices grounded in everyday life and localised cultures. Overall, we position ourselves in line with the emerging sociological interest in the everyday aspects of risk-taking introduced in Chapter 3. We introduce the broad tradition of practice theories and discuss the central concepts we will be drawing on in the empirical analyses. By making social practices the central unit of analysis we follow other sociologists in offering an alternative to the analyses of young people’s risk-taking that see this as the result of individual attitudes and choices. The practice theoretical framework enables us to question the implicit assumption that young people’s risk-taking is a homogenous behaviour rather than a heterogeneous set of activities embedded in the routines of everyday life. Rather, we come to view risk-taking as routinised practices that exist beyond the individual participants, carry cultural meanings and significance and require embodied knowledge.
