Author of the famous Purity and Danger and How Institutions Think, Mary Douglas (1921–2007) is also one of the first anthropologists interested in risks in industrial societies. Entitled “cultural theory,” her framework puts forward explanations as to why people fear different risks, linking their behavior to the culture of the group they belong to. Enlightened and functional though this theory may be, questions are also raised and have to be considered, in particular with regard to their political implication.