Crisis Studies and Societal Resilience
Summary
Crisis studies have evolved from narrowly defined emergency management to a broad, interdisciplinary field that examines how societies anticipate, respond to and recover from diverse threats. Early work focused on natural disasters and technological failures, but recent scholarship emphasises systemic interdependencies, recognising that social, economic and ecological systems are deeply intertwined. The concept of societal resilience has become central, encompassing the capacity not only to withstand shocks but also to adapt and transform in the face of change. Scholars now explore resilience at multiple scales—from individual and community coping strategies to national governance frameworks—and employ methods ranging from quantitative risk assessment to ethnographic fieldwork. Key themes include the dynamics of vulnerability, the role of social capital, the governance of polycrises (overlapping and reinforcing emergencies) and the influence of sociotechnical imaginaries on innovation in crisis contexts. Research highlights the importance of proactive planning, inclusive decision-making and the integration of technological and cultural dimensions to build adaptive capacity. The global significance of these insights is evident in responses to pandemics, climate extremes and socio-political upheavals, where lessons drawn from one context can inform resilience strategies elsewhere. Concrete examples—from community-led flood defences to digital platforms for rapid response—illustrate how theory and practice converge to strengthen societal robustness and chart pathways toward more secure futures.
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Crisis Studies and Societal Resilience publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in crisis studies and societal resilience across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Societal resilience: The capacity of a social system to absorb disturbance, adapt to change and develop new trajectories of growth.
Polycrisis: A condition in which multiple crises interact and reinforce one another, creating compound challenges beyond single-event responses.
Sociotechnical imaginaries: Collective visions of desirable futures that shape the development and governance of technology in social contexts.
Temporal imagination: The mental framework through which individuals and communities anticipate, interpret and plan for future events based on past experiences.
References
- An imperative to innovate? Crisis in the sociotechnical imaginary. Telematics and Informatics (2025).
- Polycrisis: Prompts for an emerging worldview. Anthropology Today (2023).
- Maintaining the future through recurrent crises. Culture & Psychology (2023).
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