A societal security dilemma might exist when the actions of one society, in trying to increase its societal security (strengthening its own identity), causes a reaction in a second society, which in the end, decreases its (the first society"s) own societal security (weakens its own identity).
(P. Roe)

Societal groups tend to define their national identity and national consciousness in negative terms, through distinction from or comparison with neighbours. Encounters with the "alien"; other forms of language, religion, customs, political systems, make people aware of their close ties, shared values and common ground that render communication with their own kind so much easier than with outsiders.
(P. Alter)

This logic of identity means that some other often enters as part of the self-identification... As one's identity depends on this other, the other ends up in the dual role of being necessary for my identity, and the one who fully prevents me from being fully myself.
(O. Waever)

To the extent that tensions over migration, identity and territory occur between societies, we might by analogy with international politics talk about a societal security dilemma. This would imply that societies can experience processes in which perceptions of 'the others' develop into mutually reinforcing 'enemy pictures' leading to the same kind of negative dialectics as with the security dilemma between states.
(B. Buzan)