If something can be said to exist formally and definitively only when it acquires an official name, social phobia came into the world fully formed with the publication of the DSM-III in 1980. The notion designated by the name, however, is much older; the fearful self-protective pattern itself is likely as old as humanity.

The dual purposes of this chapter are to trace the intellectual history of the term, and to establish whether and how it has evolved. In carrying out this overview I shall rely mostly on the invaluable historical survey of Pelissolo & Lépine (1995) concerning social phobia as such as well as the broader overviews of the conceptual history of anxiety disorders by Berrios (1999) and Glas (1996).

Before embarking on the historical survey, it is well to consider what perspective regarding the nature of social phobia would serve our purpose best. In principle, on a continuum of the nature of psychopathology, two seemingly contradictory positions face off. On the one hand, social phobia might be envisaged as a distinct entity occurring in nature and obtaining universally that went unrecognized until discovered. On the other hand, social phobia could be taken for a linguistic construction denoting several ambiguous phenomena (lending themselves to numerous readings) lumped together. This construction is a cultural product of various social forces embedded in a particular way of life.