Elisabeth Michel-Guillou

Living in an “At Risk” Environment: The Example of “Costal Risks”

In Western societies, risk has permeated our daily lives. Manifestations of risk are broad and innumerable, affecting daily activities or more exceptional activities. In this chapter, we will discuss the damaging and socially constructed nature of risks, construed as a danger that individuals seek to avoid. We will present the work carried out within the framework of an interdisciplinary approach in psychology and geography. This work focuses more specifically on the issue of so-called “natural” risks. The term “natural” is used to describe risks associated with hazards considered to be of a natural origin. Therefore, this chapter will define the risk and then will develop the main theoretical approaches used in social and environmental psychology to understand them. Then, we will present an example of natural risk: coastal risks (marine erosion and submersion). This chapter, aimed at studying the quality of life, will then lead to the final concluding part in which we discuss the interest of a comprehensive approach to the study of complex phenomena.