Since Beck (1992) claimed that we are now living in a “risk society” there has been an abundance of sociological research surrounding the subject. Most recently the idea of voluntary risk taking has been brought to the fore front of sociological debate. It is clear that in a society where people spend a great deal of time avoiding risks there are also people actively seeking to take part in risks. Why is this the case, and are there certain groups within society more prone to this type of risk-taking behaviour than others?
In order to address this two part question effectively it is first of all necessary to discuss what voluntary risk-taking is referring to. Once this has been summarized it is then necessary to discuss the various sociological accounts of the pleasures of voluntary risk-taking, the work of such writers as Lyng (1990), Miller (1991) and Kahneman, Slovic and Tversky (1982) will be examined. Finally I will use case studies from Morrongiello and Dawber (1999), Chan and Rigakos (2002) and Green (1997) in order to assess whether there are gender differences in levels of voluntary risk-taking. This will allow me to conclude that voluntary risk-taking is a gendered subject whereby females and males are more inclined to participate in different types of voluntary risk-taking; this is due to a number of factors such as early socialisation processes, peer group and media.
Firstly it is important to define the term ‘voluntary risk-taking’. Probably the most in-depth study into voluntary risk-taking has been completed by Lyng (1990). He describes a specific type of voluntary risk-taking, so much so he terms this type ‘edgework’. This is a type of voluntary risk-taking which has a strong possibility of serious injury or death. He terms this idea, ‘edgework’ as it is the type of voluntary risk-taking that has a sense of being between zones, almost a sense of liminality of pushing oneself to the absolute limits which in turn instigates a sense of being on the edge between order and chaos. Using this type of definition for voluntary risk-taking Lyng (1990) discovered that most of the participants in this type of risk taking or ‘edgework’ thought that in order to avoid serious injury or death one had to have the inherent ‘right stuff’ in order to maintain absolute control of the chaotic situation.
Psychological theory in regards to risk sees the principal pleasure of risk-taking as the “anticipated rewards” (Kahneman, Slovic, and Tversky, 1982).
Similar to what the article states, we have seen that risk is something that can go wrong, which we are unaware until a crisis happens. Many people tend to ignore the short tails of distribution saying they don't matter because there's a low possibility that it will occur. Think back to one such “perfect storm” that happened back in ...
If it is fun who is going to stop anyone from doing whatever it is. No matter the dangers when the adrenaline is pumping there is a sense of invincibility. In the book Fire In The Ashes by Jonathan Kozol there is a character in chapter 4 Silvio: Invincible who was one of the main characters in that story who proves my point. A bit rebellious and still young Silvio had many different characteristics to describe him perfectly. Silvio had somewhat of a grudge against authority he never really obeyed his mother's wishes or the personnel that worked in Person In Need of Supervision or PINS. Silvio was also a defensive boy who protected himself when he was confronted by a thief who was trying to steal his mothers pager from him on the subway that
What triggers, and to what severity, drive one to the last resort of risking
Risk taking was measured by playing a video game called chicken. It allowed the participants to make actual decisions in a risky situation. In the conditioned group, the participants would complete "chicken" at the same time and would be able to communicate with each other. The other groups were separated by placing one of the participants into a room while he/she completed the game while the other two waited outside. Risk preference was measured by five risky scenarios that the participants had to choose from. Again, one of the groups were able to discuss among themselves while the other group had to choose from the risks individually. Finally, risky decision making was measured again by 5 risky scenarios only this time the scenarios included consequences that may result from the given the
Miles meets and immediately becomes friends with a teenage boy named Chip. Chip has given himself the nickname of “The Colonel”, and ironically bestows the nickname of “Pudge” to Miles. This is humorously ironic, as Miles is a taller, skinny young man, and not pudgy in the least. As Miles begins to adjust to this new school, he experiences a significant level of hazing by rich students that are referred to as Weekend Warriors. As Pudge continues at Culver Creek, his favorite class becomes World re...
Throughout time, people have resorted to stealing in order to obtain items instead of buying them. It became a problem so consequences were made. Even dating back to the Ten Commandments there were laws against stealing. Recently, theft has become a problem over the internet. Musicians and music companies have lost millions in revenue. Websites such as Napster, The Pirate Bay, and Pandora have made it extremely easy for people, specifically teens, to illegally download and or listen to music for free. Pirating music has become a problem especially because “91 percent of all new music was downloaded illegally over the Internet instead of purchased,” says Logan Lynn from Huffington Post (Lynn). Many, such as the RIAA claim that music piracy is “an ongoing and evolving challenge,” (Who) while others suggest that it is “keeping the music industry alive,” (Issacson).
Shawn Fanning brought the first example of illegal downloading to us in the summer of 1999 (Abbott 2003). Fanning provided the public with downloadable tracks of music using a program known as Napster. At its prime, there were over 80 million registered users downloading from Napster (Lam 2001). Only 6 months after operation, the RIAA (the Recording Industry Association of America) filed a lawsuit against Shawn Fanning and Napster for $100,000 per each downloaded song. The legal problem with Napster was that downloaders were not paying the due royalties to the artist and producers. Napster and its contemporary, Audiogalaxy, were not exact forms of shareware, so the RIAA was able to sue them as companies. The people who were actually doing the downloading got off scotch-free with thousands of free downloaded music tracks. As a result of the case Napster was shut down. Today we are introduced to subsequent forms of downloading, like KaZaA,Bearshare, and limewire would create a whole new kind of trouble f...
I am a rule follower and I do not take many risks. However, I do agree with the other points such as doing things in my own way, not doing things repeatedly, and seeing situations differently from others. I have phobia anxiety. Taking risks is extremely hard for me to do. I like to control the situation because of my fear of death. I have had a hard struggle with my anxiety since the age of thirteen. So in order to not have so much anxiety I tend to do things in a controlled way. This also makes me view things in different situations. Mostly because of being a control freak.
It has been forty three years since the first email was delivered; since then, our ways of communication have changed. We are now living in a society in which almost everybody is provided with a piece of communicating technology to keep in touch with each other. Social networking service, a platform for people who want to share interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections over the Internet, has deeply affected our life in many ways. The debate as to whether the influences are positive or negative has been a controversial issue since 72 percent of all internet users are now active on social media (22 Social Media Facts and Statistics You Should Know in 2014). So, how does social media affect our lives? Speaking for myself, I think social networking is slowly damaging our everyday life by crawling into our personal life, turning into a deadly weapon, and becoming a dangerous addiction and distraction.
Complete free exercise of will inhibits individual and societal freedom. According to Mill, one may act as one chooses unless one is inflicting harm onto others. He argues that one is free to behave “according to his own inclination and judgment in things which concern himself” as long as “he refrains from molesting” (64). The problem arises in the freedom allowed to the individual performing the potentially dangerous act. People are often blinded by the situation in which they are in and by their personal motives which drive them to act. Humans, by nature, have faults and vices that are potentially harmful. It is the responsibility of society to anticipate harm, whether to oneself or to others. Once dangerous patterns and habits are recognized it is imperative to anticipate and prevent injury from reoccurring. To allow any individual to be inflicted harm forces citizens to lose tr...
On the off chance that a man is discovered blameworthy of a copyright infringement they can confront up to five years in prison, be fined and energized to 150,000 for every record, and they can be sued which can bring about a legitimate expenses. That why it is so vital to sincerely think before downloading a copyright document on the grounds that the results is genuine. In spite of the fact that the music business is unambiguously of the assessment that unlawful downloading has just negative results for music deals, there is convincing contention that must be investigated proposing that, truth be told, illicit downloading through its statement of-mouth impact may really help in boosting deals (McKenzie, J. 2009). Let say you stroll in a record store and choose to take every one of the collections that you as of now have downloading from the web that is taking an immense wrongdoing. Many people truly need go take a disc from the store they would rather get it disconnected then go take I from the store. Just might you be able to didn 't take it physical doesn 't imply that it isn 't a wrongdoing. Taking a tune for nothing is a wrongdoing and in addition it isn 't
When you download any illegal media you are getting something for free that everyone else is required to pay a fee for. DVDs and CDs that cost others anywhere from 15 dollars to 60 dollars or more are being distributed for free as long as you have a download client. If you have programs such as Bittorent or Kazaa, you only have to find someone that already has the media on their computer, in which they either paid for the copies or they too downloaded the media illegally from someone else. On most of the “real” media (the cases), it states that you are not to distribute or copy the material because it is an illegal act, and you will be punished if caught.
Internet piracy is not a victimless crime. Piracy is a term used to describe the illegal downloading of music, movies, games, and even software online. Although many people don’t feel that piracy is a crime that affects anybody, it really does. People pirate stuff online because it is free and does not require one to run to a store to get their product. People that pirate these things don’t think of the repercussions that go along with it. You can have to serve up to 10 years in prison, and pay a fine of $250,000.
As explained above, illegal downloading is a great problem affecting the entertainment industry and could soon be an even bigger problem for consumers. Downloading copyrighted material illegally is just as unlawful as stealing from a store or someone’s personal item. To prevent shutting down businesses and industries, internet pirates must be stopped and actively sought after. So if one is downloading material illegally take in to mind what harm it can do to and who is being hurt in the process. Free does not mean that it’s moral or fine; one must analyze and see the consequences of such actions before they continue—otherwise, it could be the end of something great because people were stealing and driving companies out of business, with no force stopping them.
Illegal downloading can also be known as piracy. Piracy is defined as stealing a piece of music in which the composer or recording artist did not give consent for. It is the stealing of music from people such as songwriters, musicians, record label employees, and everyone else who put hard work into it. There are some people who see no problem with downloading music from the Internet but it presents three main problems. The first problem is that the music will mostly likely not have g...