Culture of fear : risk-taking and the morality of low expectation
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Culture of fear : risk-taking and the morality of low expectation
Continuum, 2002
Rev. ed
- : hard
- : pbk
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Note
"First edition published 1997 by Cassell"--T.p. verso
Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-198) and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: hard ISBN 9780826459299
Description
Fear has become an ever-expanding part of life in the West in the 21st 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 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.
Our obsession with theoretical risks is in danger of distracting society from dealing with the old-fashioned dangers that have always threatened our lives.
Table of Contents
- The explosion of risks
- why do we panic?
- the culture of abuse
- a world of risky strangers
- who can you trust
- the new etiquette
- conclusions - the politics of fear.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780826459305
Description
Fear has become an ever-expanding part of life in the West in the 21st century. We live in terror of disease, abuse, stranger danger, environmental devastation and terrorist onslaught. We are bombard 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 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.
Our obsession with theoretical risks is in danger of distracting society from dealing with the old-fashioned dangers that have always threatened our lives.
Table of Contents
- The explosion of risks
- why do we panic?
- the culture of abuse
- a world of risky strangers
- who can you trust
- the new etiquette
- conclusions - the politics of fear.
by "Nielsen BookData"