Morality in the mountains: risk, responsibility, and neoliberalism in newspaper accounts of backcountry rescue

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Date
2012
Authors
Laurendeau, Jason
Moroz, Sara
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sage Publications
Abstract
In this article, we analyze Canadian newspaper coverage of recent events in which backcountry adventurers have found themselves in need of assistance from rescue organizations. We interrogate discourses of risk and responsibility, exploring the ways in which the media constructs these backcountry enthusiasts as responsible to and for specific (e.g., family) and generalized (e.g., society) others. These discourses, we argue, produce and reproduce neoliberal notions of risk management, constructing citizens as responsible for managing their ‘‘risk profiles.’’
Description
Sherpa Romeo green journal. Permission to archive accepted author manuscript.
Keywords
Search and rescue operations , Risk management , Responsibility , Governmentality , Neoliberalism
Citation
Laurendeau, J. (2012) Morality in the mountains: Risk, responsibility, and neoliberalism in newspaper accounts of backcountry rescue. Communication & Sport, 1(4), 382-399. DOI: 10.1177/2167479512464765
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/10133/3279
Collections
Laurendeau, Jason