ontological security

is a stable mental state derived from a sense of continuity and order in events.

A stable mental state derived from a sense of continuity and order in events' [Tony Bilton et al., Introductory Sociology, 3rd edition. London, Macmillan, 1996:665] (NET)

is encountering the hazards of life from a centrally firm sense of his own and other people's reality and identity.

Chapter 3: Ontological insecurity 'A man may have a sense of his presence in the world as a real, alive, whole, and, in a temporal sense, a continuous person. As such, he can live out into the world and meet others: a world and others experienced as equally real, alive, whole, and continuous. Such a basically ontologically secure person will encounter all the hazards of life . . . from a centrally firm sense of his own and other people's reality and identity.' (p.39)

is simply being secure in ones own being and having a sense of being a whole person.

[The following quotations, from The Divided Self, introduce Laing's concept of ontological security, by which he just means being secure in ones own being. He also calls it, having a sense of being a whole person. Certain people in certain families, he argues, do not develop feelings of ontological security, and this can result in schizophrenia. This idea was developed much further in Families of Schizophrenics (Laing and A. Esterson, 1964)]' (NET)

is the assurances derived from an existential position.

This study is concerned with the issues involved where there is the partial or almost complete absence of the assurances derived from an existential position of what I shall call primary ontological security: with anxieties and dangers that I shall suggest arise only in terms of primary ontological insecurity... and with the consequent attempts to deal with such anxieties and dangers.' (Laing 'divided self' p.39)

is the confidence that most humans beings have in the continuity of their self-identity and in the constancy of the surrounding social and material environments of action.

The phrase refers to the confidence that most humans beings have in the continuity of their self-identity and in the constancy of the surrounding social and material environments of action. n. A sense of the reliability of persons and things, so central to the notion of trust, is basic to feelings of ontological security... hence the two are psychologically closely related' (Giddens 1990:92)

is the unconscious need to believe that things are as they appear to be and that they will remain that way. Trust in societal norm.

The unconscious need to believe that things are as they appear to be and that they will remain that way. Trust in societal norm' (NET)

ontological security, n.Definitions

ontological security