Lo sforzo inutile. L'alpinismo come professione del corpo

The professionalisation of mountaineering related to the use of the body can be explained in two ways. The first one deals with the birth and development of the mountain guides. This specific occupation, raised during the 19th century, codifies the ludic activity of the body as a proper job. The second one is related to the creation of an élite of indipendent professionals, experts of high mountain paths (20th century). In both cases, the professionalisation of the use of the body occurs paradoxically through the voluntary exposure to the risks, as opposed to what usually take place in the labour market and in the logic of the security terms, which characterise the individual and collective life of the advanced knowledge societies.