Constructing existential threat: Political discourse, leadership, and the social management of mortality.
AbstractIn contexts of prolonged insecurity, existential threat becomes a central organizing principle of collective life. Terror Management Theory (TMT) has focused on intrapsychic responses to mortality salience. However, researchers have paid less attention to how public discourse constructs mort...
| Publicado en: | Death Studies pp. 1 - 13 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Sep2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=196686307&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 196686307 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 07481187 DEA jtl: Death Studies issn: 07481187 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2026 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania artinfo: ui: 196686307 10.1080/07481187.2026.2727641 196686307 ppf: 1 ppct: 12 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Constructing existential threat: Political discourse, leadership, and the social management of mortality. aug: au: Mahat-Shamir, Michal Leichtentritt, Ronit D. affil: School of Social Work, Ariel University sug: ab: AbstractIn contexts of prolonged insecurity, existential threat becomes a central organizing principle of collective life. Terror Management Theory (TMT) has focused on intrapsychic responses to mortality salience. However, researchers have paid less attention to how public discourse constructs mortality-related threats. This study examines how political communication articulates and manages existential threat over time. Using a qualitative thematic analysis of speeches by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a hybrid inductive–deductive approach informed by TMT, the findings show that political discourse progressively constructs threat as a continuous condition, expanding across social boundaries and reshaping collective belonging. Discourse mobilizes cultural worldviews, identity, and self-esteem as anxiety buffers and positions leadership as an additional symbolic resource. These findings extend TMT by demonstrating that political discourse socially produces and discursively maintains mortality salience. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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