Bezpieczeństwo jako zjawisko społeczne
Security as a social phenomenon

Summary/Abstract: Security has rightly been included in the social sciences in Poland. Carl von Clausewitz stated that war is a continuation of politics using other means. According to Clausewitz, war is “an act of relations between people,” and by this token it is a phenomenon of social life. Clausewitz not only explained the phenomena of struggle and war, but also their origins through the prism of society and security – not as a threat but as a response to threats. The purpose of the paper is to show security as a social phenomenon by distinguishing the differences between security and survival. In fact, Hobbes argued that it is not possible to provide security for a society operating as a community (i.e. outside the state) because its existence is not protected by anybody. This means that such social entities are concerned only with survival in the context of the internal competition of small groups whose proportions of force change easily and quickly. The issue of security becomes even more significant when it comes to the possibility of such an entity disintegrating, whether from the inside (e.g. betrayal) or by outsiders when they penetrate the relationship (immigration) or try to destroy it in a rivalry (aggression).

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