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Culture of Fear: Risk Taking and the Morality of Low Expectation
 
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Culture of Fear: Risk Taking and the Morality of Low Expectation (Paperback)

by Frank Furedi (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 205 pages
  • Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.; Revised edition edition (21 Mar 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0826459307
  • ISBN-13: 978-0826459305
  • Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.1 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 109,391 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #74 in  Books > Business, Finance & Law > Careers > Community Services

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Product Description

Product 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.


From the Back Cover

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 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 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.

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38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Culture of Fear, 19 Nov 2002
Frank Furedi is a professor of Sociology at the University of Kent at Cantebury. Scared yet? Well you shouldn't be! The Culture of Fear is a nicely written book which flows easily from chapter to chapter. It is an interesting and thought provoking read, if not a little worrying at times. If we thought through every risk that we could encounter during the course of a day, I am sure we would never get of out bed!
The introduction/preface gives a nice outline of the book, which is written in plain English while still managing to get its point across. Furedi discusses briefly some risky ideas and areas of life which we are scared of. He draws on very up to date examples including, deep vein thrombosis, BSE/CJD and September 11th to name but a few. Using such up to date examples helps to put the ideas that he uses later in the book into context.
Chapter one is entitled 'The Explosion of Risk' and it aims to identify what this concern about risk represents. Furedi makes a valid point that often our perception of risk has little to do with the likelihood of it.
Chapter two asks the question 'Why Do We Panic?". If you were to take everything that was written in the papers at face value, then it would seem that we have very good reason to panic. Furedi again relies on real life examples in this chapter to make his point and I think this works very well. His examples range from scares about peanut allergies to fears raised over oral contraception
Chapter three moves past general risks in society and focuses on something that does scare a lot of people but perhaps does not affect as many as we think. 'Culture of Abuse' talks about the normalisation of abuse and the morbid expectation that just about every home has a potential abuser within its walls
It is the world of 'Risky Strangers' that we seem to live in that is the focus of chapter four. The idea that society is full of people who err on the side of caution and do not take risks is bought to the forefront.
Chapter five begs the question 'Who Can You Trust?" and going by previous chapters you would be forgiven for thinking that answer is no-one!. Furedi blames the increase in consultancy and individualism for the lack of trust that we feel for people
The New Etiquette' of political correctness is discussed in chapter six. Furedi talks about our drift into a more secular age. He claims that it is an age where 'healthiness has replaced godliness'
Furedi has a lively and upbeat style of writing that does keep you interested and the examples he uses within his book illustrates his points very well. They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but in this case you can. The image of men in anti nuclear suits sets the scene for a book which could strike the fear of god into anyone. There are potential risks and dangers everywhere and things that you should be scared of, reading this book however is not one of them!
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