Safetyism
Safetyism is a term coined by psychologists Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt that refers to a culture or belief system in which safety has become a sacred value, which means that people engage in groupthink and become unwilling to make trade-offs demanded by other practical and moral concerns. “Safety” trumps everything else, no matter how unlikely or trivial the potential danger. Going into the twenty-first the concept of safety had expanded from physical safety to include emotional safety. However, we must expose ourselves to trauma in order to overcome our aversion toward it. A culture that allows the concept of “safety” to creep so far that it equates emotional discomfort with physical danger is a culture that encourages people to systematically protect one another from the very experiences embedded in daily life that they need in order to become strong and healthy.
References
- Lukianoff, Greg. Haidt, Jonathan. (2019). The Coddling of the American Mind Chapter 1 The Untruth of Fragility What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Weaker (Epub p. 44). New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
Metadata
Type:🔵 Tags: Psychology / Sociology Status:☀️