This essay represents an attempt to read and interpret one of the classic English-language papers in social science using Study Questions as a guide with the purpose of gaining a deeper understanding of the text. This first part deals with the first four paragraphs of the paper ‘Insurance and Risk’, written by François Ewald, which is considered an excellent example of the application of some of the key elements of Foucauldian thought to the study of the sociological notion of risk.