Introduction: Experiences of Health Risks

The idea of risk, which asserts that nothing happens by chance, has profoundly impacted society over the past decades. However, predictions tend to be challenged by unexpected situations and by the complexity of social processes surrounding actual experiences of vulnerability and danger. I propose to focus on experiences of health risks to better understand how people domesticate their personal vulnerability, including material, affective, symbolic, and interpersonal elements. I consider both how citizens and experts actually think, act, and interact around these experiences, across a range of health risks.