Anxiety and social explanation: Some anxieties about anxiety

The prevalence of historical and social explanations couched in terms of events as responses to social anxiety is noted and documented. Social life generates shared anxieties which help to account for why it is that particular policies, politics or programs are supported. Selected examples are explored to chart the general form of anxiety theory. The article raises questions about the theoretical and methodological implications of this potentially attractive form of explanatory account. The appeal of anxiety theory is that it holds out the prospect of going beneath the surface phenomena of social and political controversies to discover 'what is really going on'. The extent to which anxiety theory can provide causal explanations is explored. Some methodological suggestions are made as to how the limitations of anxiety theory can be avoided.