Approaches to the Concept and Measurement of Resilience in the Context of Narrativity

The coronavirus epidemic has radically and abruptly transformed people’s lifestyles around the world. Depending on the extent to which these changes are sustained, deepened or recurring, they may have far-reaching implications for the way we communicate in our social relations, the way we develop opportunities for interaction and, ultimately, the solidarity that sustains communities and societies. Commonplace and academic discourses seek solutions in, among other places, the landscape of resilience, the term in vogue today. As with all popular buzzwords, there are of course many attempts at interpretation, unreflected prejudices and normative images attached to this concept. However, the narrative surrounding resilience can itself be analysed and as such can tell us a relevant story about the framed ways in which we tell ourselves about the world we live in. In this paper, I explore this issue, while also addressing some of the epistemological and methodological difficulties and questions related to the concept and empirical research of resilience – and on this basis, I propose a conceptual differentiation of resilience, the experience of resilience and the regulators of resilience.