TY - JOUR
T1 - Globalization, demand of sense and enemization of the other
T2 - A psychocultural analysis of European societies’ sociopolitical crisis
AU - Salvatore, Sergio
AU - Mannani, Terri
AU - Avdi, Evrinomi
AU - Battaglia, Fiorella
AU - Cremaschi, Marco
AU - Fini, Viviana
AU - Davanzati, Guglielmo Forges
AU - Kadianaki, Irini
AU - Krasteva, Anna
AU - Kullasepp, Katrin
AU - Matsopoulos, Anastassios
AU - Mølholm, Martin
AU - Redd, Rozlyn
AU - Rochira, Alessia
AU - Russo, Federico
AU - Santarpia, Alfonso
AU - Sammut, Gordon
AU - Valmorbida, Antonella
AU - Veltri, Giuseppe Alessandro
PY - 2019/9
Y1 - 2019/9
N2 - The paper outlines a cultural–psychological interpretation of the current European societies’ socio-institutional crisis. To this end, preliminarily, the cultural psychological view of social behaviour is outlined, focusing on the idea that socio-political choices depend on how people make sense of their world. Second, the paper provides an interpretation of the current socio-political European scenario of crisis, based on the main results of a recent study that has mapped the cultural dynamics underpinning some European countries. The interpretation focuses on two complementary facets: on the one hand, the lack of symbolic resources (defined: semiotic capital) enabling people to perceive the collective dimension of life as a lived, subjectively relevant fact of experience; on the other hand, the relevance of a cultural form (defined: paranoid belongingness) that channels a trajectory of sensemaking consisting of the affective connotation of otherness in terms of threat and enemy. Third, the paper deepens the interplay between these cultural dynamics and the social, political and economic conditions that may have been triggered by them. In that perspective, the function of semiotic regulation played by the enemization of the other is highlighted. The conclu- sive part of the work is devoted to discuss implications the analysis suggests for policy makers.
AB - The paper outlines a cultural–psychological interpretation of the current European societies’ socio-institutional crisis. To this end, preliminarily, the cultural psychological view of social behaviour is outlined, focusing on the idea that socio-political choices depend on how people make sense of their world. Second, the paper provides an interpretation of the current socio-political European scenario of crisis, based on the main results of a recent study that has mapped the cultural dynamics underpinning some European countries. The interpretation focuses on two complementary facets: on the one hand, the lack of symbolic resources (defined: semiotic capital) enabling people to perceive the collective dimension of life as a lived, subjectively relevant fact of experience; on the other hand, the relevance of a cultural form (defined: paranoid belongingness) that channels a trajectory of sensemaking consisting of the affective connotation of otherness in terms of threat and enemy. Third, the paper deepens the interplay between these cultural dynamics and the social, political and economic conditions that may have been triggered by them. In that perspective, the function of semiotic regulation played by the enemization of the other is highlighted. The conclu- sive part of the work is devoted to discuss implications the analysis suggests for policy makers.
KW - Semitic capital
KW - enemization of the other
KW - symbolic universes
KW - globalization
KW - socio-political crisis
KW - cultural dynamics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85048811496&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1354067X18779056
DO - 10.1177/1354067X18779056
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1354-067X
VL - 25
SP - 345
EP - 374
JO - Culture & Psychology
JF - Culture & Psychology
IS - 3
ER -