Towards a Sociological Understanding of Youth and their Risk-taking

Abstract

This paper critically examines recent explanations of youth and their risk-taking. Literature in this area has traditionally been dominated by psycho-dynamic explanations of social action in which risk-taking is claimed to have linkages to biological and psychological developments in 'adolescence'. While more recent writers in the disciplines of psychology have aimed to distance themselves from deterministic positions, more recent discourses on youth risk-taking have remained grounded in a series of assumptions about the meaning of adolescence and transition that still see biology and psychology as key influences to behaviour. Alternative critical approaches exist within sociology and anthropology that provide an opportunity to develop a fuller understanding of the diverse and complex social processes that influence young people's behaviour in risk-taking. To conclude, this paper identifies gaps in our sociological understanding of youth and risk-taking, and highlights areas of further research.