Uses and Misuses of Threats in the Public Sphere

Abstract

Since the late 90s, the notion of threat has taken on increasing importance in the social sphere. This chapter proposes a psychosociological approach to the way the notion of threat is used in the public space: in discourses, narratives, representations that circulate in communications and daily social exchanges; in the debates that animate the scientific, political and media spheres, their stakes and the consequences for social life. The chapter begins by distinguishing “threat” from other terms in which it is assimilated: risk, catastrophe, danger, peril, nuisance, etc. It considers its legitimate or disrupting uses in different research fields: environment, health, science and technical progress, economy, politics, social life (crime, poverty, unemployment, exclusion and marginalization, immigration, war and terrorism). The second section analyses the dimensions of threats, taking into account their nature and location; their cause, conditions and effects; the situation, local or global, individual or collective, where they intervene materially or symbolically; the responsibility for their occurrence; and, in the case of a human sources, their eventual intention; the targets, their vulnerability and resilience, their feelings. Special attention is given to the social and political manipulation of the fear engendered by threat and to the social answers given.