In the Age of Societal Uncertainty, the Era of Threat

Abstract

This chapter considers how threat is defined, created and controlled. It explores the relationship between threat and risk. It focuses on the social psychological processes involved when societal agents actively influence the way risk arises, is understood and, as a result, ensure that it becomes threat. Identity Process Theory and Social Representations Theory are used to direct this analysis. The ‘threat process’ is outlined. It is argued that the early twenty-first century is an age of societal uncertainty, where previously established beliefs and values are severely challenged and change at many different levels is occurring rapidly and unpredictably, and this gives rise to an era of threat—in which there is no agreed system for interpreting such complex and interacting threats. This creates an opportunity for those who can control channels of communication to manipulate the representations of threat and influence reactions to threat. The chapter goes on to describe the significance of identity processes and social representations in the era of threat. It considers how the identity processes of the individual respond to the threat nexus in this age of societal uncertainty. It concludes with the assertion that identity-defending coping strategies, in the face of threat, are enormously resilient.