A Sociological Framework of Crisis Preparedness

Heightened geopolitical tensions, extreme weather conditions, and an increased risk of hybrid attacks have brought renewed attention to crisis preparedness as a key political and research priority across Europe. However, much of the current discourse focuses on individual and household-level measures and overlooks the broader social dimensions of crisis resilience, which are more frequently examined in the aftermath of crises. Given the crucial role of social capital and informal civil society networks in crisis response and recovery, there is a pressing need for greater sociological engagement with the crisis preparedness phase as well. Incorporating literatures of sociology of disasters, civil society studies, crisis management, and disaster risk management, this paper develops an extended sociological framework that conceptualizes crisis preparedness as an inherently social process taking place at the early onset of a crisis. In outlining such a framework, it expands the conceptualization of crisis preparedness beyond individual and material measures to include social infrastructures, such as social capital and the mobilization of civil society. In doing so, the paper contributes to the sociological theory of crisis resilience by conceptualizing crisis preparedness as prospective collective action, thereby reframing sociological understandings of crisis preparedness as risk governance.