isapreprintofanarticlesubmittedforconsiderationinthe.doc

This is a preprint of an article submitted for consideration in the JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES [2008 copyright Taylor Francis]. THE JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES is available online at: http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/ Performing Risks: Catharsis, Carnival and Capital in the Risk-society Introduction Issues of risk and safety are of vast importance for young people today. On the one hand, youth are often seen as being naturally disposed to risk-taking and some academics have even argued that taking risks in an integral part of child and youth development. Younger generations, moreover, have grown up in a society replete with voluntary risk-taking activities, from acts like jumping from roofs into bushes in shows like Jackass, to ‘extreme’ sports like bungee-jumping and snowboarding, most of which are associated with youth and youth culture and marketed as such. On the other hand, there can be little doubt that growing up in a risk-society, young people are often implicitly defined as ‘at-risk’ and subsequently subjected to significant forms of surveillance and control in heavily supervised contexts such as schools. This study draws on research conducted with Scotland’s only state-funded dance-education company who, between October 2006 and April 2007, were engaged in a project entitled ‘Risk’ which employed dance and drama to explore young people’s perceptions, understandings and experiences of risk, safety and risk-taking. Using this unique data set, comprised of accounts of young people and dance professionals, this study aims to investigate a number of themes and issues. Firstly, the study examines the impact that living in a culture of caution has on young people’s experience of school and, therefore, the allure that physical risk-taking in non-scholastic contexts may acquire as a subjective response to the constraints of the former. Second, it examines the ways in which young people’s a priori possession of various forms of capital limits access to a vari