A culturalist and situated approach to study young people fear

Abstract

This theoretical article problematizes the emotion of fear, reflecting on the macro- and microsocial context that serves as a breeding ground for this emotion. The text begins by indicating, through the notion of generalized fear (delocalized, omnipresent, globalized), one of its current characteristics, and then points out some historical references for thinking about fear, such as the biological approach and the notion of guilt. It starts from a culturalist perspective and situated research, incorporating a critical vision to problematize power relations; it also includes the dimension of the body based on the proposals of the affective turn. It problematizes both the so-called sociabilities of fear from the trust/distrust binomial, as well as the logics of happiness and heroism; it then discusses fear as a political emotion and one of social control (fear as a tool, condition, end, and result). A typology is also proposed that articulates fear according to their relational dimension or their relationship with the context. It includes what we call sources of fear, whether these are natural, economic, or health-related, among others, and considers the objects of fear directly related to each of these sources.