Edgework

by Stephen Lyng (editor)

What do skydiving, rock climbing, and downhill skiing have in common with stock-trading, unprotected sex, and sadomasochism? All are high risk pursuits. Edgework explores the world of voluntary risk-taking, investigating the seductive nature of pursuing peril and teasing out the boundaries between legal and criminal behavior; conscious and unconscious acts; sanity and insanity; acceptable risk and stupidity. The distinguished contributors to this collection profile high risk-takers and explore their experiences with risk through such topics as juvenile delinquency, street anarchism, sadomasochism, avant-garde art, business risks, and extreme sport.

Genres: Sociology

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2004

Reviews

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who are unfamiliar with the concept of 'edgework,' it was described by Stephen Lyng in his seminal 1992 article, "Edgework: a Social Psychological Analysis of voluntary risk taking." I read this article breathlessly as it described what I also had been writing about recently in my work on extreme endurance sports. Namely, Lyng identifies underlying commonalities among those who participate in voluntary risk-taking pursuits that involve great physical, emotional, or psychological consequences if not executed properly. They are seeking something transcendental, using their skill to navigate potential chaos or death, and in doing so, find an enhanced sense of self, "flow," and meaning that has been denied to them in the contemporary social structure. Because this article was so brilliantly theorized, I purchased this book which Lyng edited and also to which he contributed, as it expands upon his work and shows its application to other areas of life, including art, juvenile deviance, 'adventure' style trips, stock traders, rescue workers and even academic work. Like most edited volumes, I found the quality of the essays varied widely. Some were completely horrible and stretched the concept of "edgework" so thin so as to be completely unrecognizable. However, there were a few gems from Lyng and Jeff Ferrell, William J. Miller, and a particularly interesting piece about risk society and Victorian England from Jonathan Simon. I think that intellectual fans of Jack Katz, who want to have a phenomenological understanding of crime, or those who study "carnal" sociology, the very underappreciated theoretical 'school' of edgework is much needed. As such I highly recommend to criminologists, sociologists and psychologists alike.