Resilience: moving from a “heroic” notion to a sociological concept

This paper presents a specific sociological theoretical framework to the concept of resilience. To do so, we reviewed the main theoretical developments on resilience, focusing our attention on the development of a “heroic” perspective of resilience. We point out its several pitfalls, and counter it...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Estêvão,Pedro (author)
Other Authors: Calado,Alexandre (author), Capucha,Luís (author)
Format: article
Language:eng
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0873-65292017000300001
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:scielo:S0873-65292017000300001
Description
Summary:This paper presents a specific sociological theoretical framework to the concept of resilience. To do so, we reviewed the main theoretical developments on resilience, focusing our attention on the development of a “heroic” perspective of resilience. We point out its several pitfalls, and counter it with a concept of resilience grounded on sociological theory and poverty studies, presenting a definition for resilience, the conditions and characteristics of this social phenomenon, as well as a model of operationalization based on two major dimensions: mobilization of resources and shifting of risks. With this innovative approach we also call for a sociological research agenda for resilience.