The concept of “risk culture” coined by Giddens offers an opportunity for communication of ideas between sociology and economics, because it assumes that today everyone is requested to behave as a “homo oeconomicus”. But in general a new norm encounters resistance, it has to compromise with previous norms, and it can be distorted. Thanks to data from a cross-sectional survey conducted by the French Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies, this article shows that the spread of risk culture is far from homogeneous in French society. Moreover, people who conform to risk culture (and are then closer to the “homo oeconomicus” model) are more superstitious and more prone to engage in risky behaviours when driving or during their leisure time. Normative tensions due to difficulty to conform to risk culture could explain these apparently paradoxical results.