Conclusion: Health and Risk in Social Contexts

This general conclusion offers a synthesis of the main insights gained on the challenges people encounter when they navigate the uncertainty of modern life, most often formulated in terms of risk probabilities by institutions. Through the lens of the experiences of health risks, I have been interested in how they manage to handle health risks and uncertainty through the elaboration of symbolic meanings, combining risk evidence, experiential or embodied knowledge, emotional reactions, and moral judgments that together support their concrete actions. I emphasize the systems of relations that shape power dynamics around the prevention of health risks and contribute to health inequalities. I also discuss how the idea of risk is redefining relationships with individual and collective health.