Culture of fear revisited : risk-taking and the morality of low expectation

Fear has become an ever-expanding part of life in the West in the twenty-first century. We live in terror of disease, abuse, stranger danger, environmental devastation and terrorist onslaught. We are bombarded with reports of new concerns for our safety and that of our children, and urged to take greater precautions and seek more protection. But compared to the past, or to the developing world, people in contemporary Western societies have much less familiarity with pain, suffering, debilitating disease and death. We actually enjoy an unprecedented level of personal safety. When confronted with events like the destruction of the World Trade Centre, fear for the future is inevitable. But what happened on September 11th 2001 was in many ways an old fashioned act of terror, representing the destructive side of the human passions. Frank Furedi argues that the greater danger in our culture is the tendency to fear achievements representing a more constructive side of humanity. We panic about GM food, about genetic research, about the health dangers of mobile phones. The facts often fail to support the scare stories about new or growing risks to our health and safefy. Our obsession with theoretical risks is in danger of distracting society from dealing with the old-fashioned dangers that have always threatened our lives. In this new edition Furedi relates his own thinking on the sociology of fear to the thought of earlier thinkers such as Darwin and Fred and to the sociological tradition of Durkheim, C. Wright Mills, Anthony Giddens and others. Argues that the greater danger in our culture is the tendency to fear achievements representing a more constructive side of humanity. This work relates the author's thinking on the sociology of fear to the thought of earlier thinkers such as Darwin and Fred and to the sociological tradition of Durkheim, C Wright Mills, Anthony Giddens and others. Fear has become an ever-expanding part of life in the West in the twenty-first century. We live in terror of disease, abuse, stranger danger, environmental devastation and terrorist onslaught. We are bombarded with reports of new concerns for our safety and that of our children, and urged to take greater precautions and seek more protection. But compared to the past, or to the developing world, people in contemporary Western societies have much less familiarity with pain, suffering, debilitating disease and death. We actually enjoy an unprecedented level of personal safety. When confronted with events like the destruction of the World Trade Centre, fear for the future is inevitable. But what happened on September 11th 2001 was in many ways an old fashioned act of terror, representing the destructive side of the human passions. Frank Furedi argues that the greater danger in our culture is the tendency to fear achievements representing a more constructive side of humanity. We panic about GM food, about genetic research, about the health dangers of mobile phones. The facts often fail to support the scare stories about new or growing risks to our health and safety "Fear has become an ever-expanding part of life in the West in the twenty-first century. We live in terror of disease, abuse, stranger danger, environmental devastation and terrorist onslaught. We are bombarded with reports of new concerns for our safety and that of our children, and urged to take greater precautions and seek more protection. But compared to the past, or to the developing world, people in contemporary Western societies have much less familiarity with pain, suffering, debilitating disease and death. We actually enjoy an unprecedented level of personal safety. When confronted with events like the destruction of the World Trade Center, fear for the future is inevitable. But what happened on September 11th, 2001 was in many ways an old fashioned act of terror, representing the destructive side of human passions. Frank Furedi argues that the greater danger in our culture is the tendency to fear achievements that represent a more constructive side of humanity. We panic about genetically engineered food, about genetic research, about the health dangers of mobile phones. The facts, however, often fail to support the scare stories about new or growing risks to our health and safety. Instead, it is our obsession with theoretical risks that is in danger of distracting us from dealing with the old-fashioned dangers that have always threatened our lives."--Bloomsbury Publishing. In The 21st Century We Live In Terror Of Disease, Abuse, Environmental Devastation And Terrorist Onslaught. However, The Author Argues That The Greater Danger In Our Culture Is The Tendency To Fear Achievements Which Are More Constructive. Ch. 1. What Is Distinct About The Way We Fear? -- Ch. 2. The Explosion Of Risks -- Ch. 3. Why Do We Panic? -- Ch. 4. The Culture Of Abuse -- Ch. 5. A World Of Risky Strangers -- Ch. 6. Who Can You Trust? -- Ch. 7. The New Etiquette. Frank Furedi. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 201-204) And Index. Contents 6 Preface 8 Chapter 1 What is Distinct About the Way We Fear? 24 Chapter 2 The Explosion of Risks 46 Chapter 3 Why Do We Panic? 76 Chapter 4 The Culture of Abuse 102 Chapter 5 A World of Risky Strangers 136 Chapter 6 Who Can You Trust? 156 Chapter 7 The New Etiquette 176 Chapter 8 Conclusions – The Politics of Fear 198 Bibliography 224 Index 228 A 228 B 228 C 229 D 229 E 230 F 230 G 230 H 231 I 231 J 231 K 231 L 231 M 231 N 232 O 232 P 232 Q 233 R 233 S 233 T 234 U 234 V 235 W 235 X 235 Y 235 Z 235 Argues that the current preoccupation with safety and survival reflects an outlook of low expectation. This text critically examines the roots and the consequences of contemporary risk consciousness, favouring the view that humans are capable of confronting problems and taking risks