People often speak of random acts of violence. Traumatic events may be unpredictable, but they are not random. A political psychology of trauma requires an understanding of the patterned nature of traumatic experiences, which is the main objective of this chapter. Traumatic experiences are associated with factors such as gender, age, minority ethnic or religious group and poverty. Different demographic groups tend to have different types and ranges of traumatic experiences. There are groups of people who may be far more vulnerable than others when they encounter a traumatic experience. On the other hand, when people encounter a traumatic experience from a position of relative strength, the outcome is likely to be very different to having the same experience at a moment of vulnerability. The role of these social risks and their consequence for people’s subsequent resources is centrally relevant to how people adjust to trauma. People’s responses to the events they experience are covered in later chapters, though obviously these two factors, the experience and the response, are connected. The main goal of the chapter is to uncover how social economic and political resources play a role in shaping people’s exposure and vulnerability to traumatic events.