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I argue that fear is a universal experience that in some way informs the identity
of all and can have political relevance as well.
THE DUAL NATURE OF FEAR
Fear can most simply be described as an emotion caused by an unpleasant
future event (Barbalet 1998; Ortony et al. 1988, 112). Most of our fears are
not manifested in physical threats, and most of the time we are not afraid
of certain events, but rather of their future possibility. Hence, we never fear
the darkness, the water, or change itself, but rather that something bad may
happen to us in the dark, in the water, or in the future (Barbalet 1998).
Fear has an essential evolutionary significance. As the world has always
been a dangerous place, and survival is necessary for reproduction, fear has
played a prominent role in evolutionary processes (Epstein 1972). In this
approach, fear is linked to an impending catastrophe, so it refers to a strong
urge to defend ourselves or escape from the given situation (Lader and Marks
1973). Fear can thus also function as a coping or avoidance strategy, if there
are no obstacles to the ‘escape route.
However, when internal or external obstacles are present, fear becomes
anxiety (Epstein 1972). While the relationship between animals and fear is
very simple, that is they instinctively want to escape from danger or respond
to fear by force, it is much more complicated in the case of humans. There
are a wide variety of fears, from the anxieties that accompany birth and death
to the different types of phobias (fears classified by their subjects), such as
fear of spiders, fear of dark, fear of altitude, fear of drowning, fear of aliens,
and the enumeration could go on indefinitely. In addition, we can talk about
symbolic fears, such as anxiety caused by the potential loss of social status
or prestige (Hankiss 2006). Finally, so-called indirect or derived fears also
exist, which are mostly generated by the unpredictability and uncertainty of
the future (Bauman 2006).
The universality of negative emotions is easier to prove, because they usually
represent stronger experience than their positive peers. This can be explained
by the phenomenon of negative bias. Negative events and conditions are always
more effective, since we pay more attention to them, because they endanger our
well-being and integrity. In addition, the biological significance of the negative
and the positive pole is also asymmetric: the most negative event is death, but
there is no comparable event on the positive side (Rozin and Royzman 2001).
It is proven that the idea of ‘something bad can happen to me’ and the
symbolic system of negative emotions associated with it (fear, anger, shame)
appear in human thinking regardless of culture, so it can be considered as
emotional universalism (Wierzbicka 1999, 275). It has also been accepted
since Ekman’s experiment that fear is a basic emotion alongside joy, anger,
sorrow, disgust, and surprise (Ekman 1973; Ekman and Friesen 1971).