Risk-Taking: Liquid Modernity and Extreme Outdoor Practitioners

ABSTRACTIn recent decades, the number of extreme outdoor sports in the natural environment has increased significantly. It could be said that, nowadays, extreme outdoor sports are more popular than ever. Part of the explanation probably lies in the fact that we find ourselves in the socio-historical context that Zygmunt Bauman called liquid modernity, which has transformed several activities, previously considered as marginal and/or exclusive, into mainstream. The concept of liquid modernity illustrates how social structures and identities are characterized by unpredictability and change in contemporary societies, and among its consequences we find the pluralization of outdoor physical-sports practices. Through 18 semi-structured interviews, this study set out to better understand the impact liquid modernity has had on extreme outdoor practitioners. A hierarchical content analysis led to the identification of two main themes: (a) freedom and intensity, and (b) a plurality of practices. The paper concludes with a number of practical implications and suggestions for further research that would continue to shed light on the phenomenon of extreme outdoor sports and their practitioners.KEYWORDS: Extreme outdoor sportsrisk-takingsensation-seekingliquid modernity Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).