ABSTRACT
Safety and security have become one of the most important preoccupations of our time, for individuals, for collectives, and for nation states. Interestingly, scientists who have sought to measure safety and security argue that we live more safe and secure lives than any generation before us, especially in the Western world. Our preoccupation with safety and security, therefore, is all the more fascinating. This chapter discusses the fact that for many people in Western countries safety and security can actually be labelled as ‘the norm’: they live lives that are generally safe and secure. Therefore, safety and security may be called a ‘state of normalcy’ for many Westerners. Sometimes, however, this state of normalcy is suspended or disrupted. It is the absence of security and safety that gives rise to anxiety and fear. This is so because safety and security are a fundamental human need: an existential sine qua non, a fundamental requirement for living beings in order to flourish.
