How Fear Works by Frank Furedi

Author:Frank Furedi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

THE PROBLEM OF MOTIVATION

In a complex post-traditional setting, motivation constitutes a constant challenge. In different times and contexts, a wide range of motivational factors such as fear, hope, greed, loyalty and ideology influenced people’s actions. People contribute to society because they identify with their community or nation. They are also motivated by a variety of impulses, such as an aspiration for financial gain, religious convictions or ideological affiliations. Society relies on these motivational influences to realize its objectives and maintain stability and order.

Since the 1960s, it has been widely recognized that Western societies suffer from a motivational deficit. Values that have inspired citizens in previous times – patriotism, loyalty, religion, ideology and so on – appear to have lost much of their import. More significantly, values that touch on everyday behaviour are themselves a focus of constant debate and contestation. The absence of the commanding influence of moral authority created a condition where traditional values lost much of their influence over the outlook and behaviour of the younger generations.

During the 1960s, this development was diagnosed as a temporary problem. Half a century later, the problem has endured and there has been little progress in establishing a system of values to replace those that have lost their authority. Especially since the 1980s, Western societies have found it difficult to generate values with which to motivate people to identify with the social order. The scale of this problem was recognized by the German social theorist Jürgen Habermas, in his 1973 essay The Legitimation Crisis. Habermas argued that the problem of legitimacy was underpinned by a ‘motivation crisis’, which was the outcome of the failure of the ‘socio-cultural system’ to supply the values required for the maintenance of the social order.

The implication of Habermas’s thesis was that society lacked the spiritual or cultural resources necessary for maintaining its authority. His analysis suggested that Western capitalist institutions, which have historically relied on traditional values to legitimate themselves, were now forced to find new sources of validation.8 Since that time, the crisis of legitimation has become increasingly expansive and governments are continually in search of a ‘new narrative’ or a ‘big idea’.

From the 1970s onwards, the problem of motivation has expanded into all dimensions of social life. The motivational influences of communist, socialist and liberal ideology, or identification with the nation and the belief in the efficiency of capitalism, have significantly diminished. The authority of science has also lost some of its lustre, and the formidable hopes invested in its potential to benefit humankind now compete with pessimism about its future trajectory. In this cultural landscape, the perspective of harnessing people’s beliefs and hopes to motivate their loyalty and gain their commitment has lost much of its weight.

By default, the motivational influence of fear has gained momentum and influence. One symptom of its growing appeal as a motivational force is the readiness with which fear has been absorbed into the narratives of competing movements and campaigns. In this context, fear is not simply a motivational

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