Book Review: Jodelet, D., Vala, J., & Drozda-Senkowska, E. (2020). Societies Under Threat. A Pluri-disciplinary Approach. Springer.

Abstract

Jodelet, Vala and Drozda-Senkowska report a collective work, as a scientific manifesto, on an emerging paradigm: threats. This book is made of three parts: the redefinition of the concept, its social construction and strategies to face threats. In the first chapter, the definition highlights differences between threat and risk. Thus, the threat would be inevitable, uncertain and unpredictable, with the capacity to transcend humanity. The recent multiplication of threats marks the relevance of the work carried out regarding to current societal issues. The second chapter deals with the construction of threats. This construction might be inherent in a scientific conceptualisation of a particular threat, social perception of that threat, but also its embodiment in social groups. Finally, the third chapter focuses on social and political reception of the threat, and various strategies established to respond to these issues. In dealing with the concept of threat, this book proposes to lay the emphasis on the fertile place occupied by human and social sciences, in particular social psychology through the approach of social representations.