Mountains and Handrails: Risk, Meaning, and Responsibility in Three National Parks

摘要

Where we live, the relationships we maintain, or the experiences we have can tell us about the way we perceive risk and the responsibility for its management. Perceptions of risk and responsibility are particularly relevant in US national parks, where unintentional injury is prevalent, yet support exists for allowing risk exposure. If experiencing risk may be both desirable (e.g., self-affirming) and undesirable (e.g., injury-causing), what is its role in a national park? Moreover, what are the expectations for visitors to encounter or to avoid it? In-depth interviews with National Park Service employees suggest that desired risk is contingent upon the circumstances in which it is encountered, and the values and prior experience of individuals. Employees perceive visitors as responsible for avoiding undesirable risk through information seeking and awareness, but also recognize considerable barriers to doing so. Theoretical and practical implications and avenues for future research are presented.