Frank Furedi. Culture of Fear Revisited. London and New York: Continuum, 2006. 4th edition. The sociology of fear, including that of terrorism. A well-timed chance discovery for me, as my current chapter is about fear, and the mass media's role in propagating (and amplifying, if not creating) it.
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Jack McGowan
Very good choice, I suspect. Furedi has done some excellent work on 'Therapy Culture' which I used when writing about out-patient psychiatric/psychological/medical treatment of depression in Britain since the 1950s. He's very strong on the 'psychiatrization of everything' and the 'vicitim' culture engendered by over-use of 'therapy' and over-prescribing of anti-depressants. What gives his work real value is, as you say, his analysis of how this has both influenced the media and the entire public sphere and how it has been influenced by it. He also manages to write in an accessible way. I'd be very interested to know if you do find him useful on the sociology of fear and terrorism (particularly if he makes any historical references to the Baader-Meinhof Group).
Brett Holman
Post authorThanks for that. I must admit I bought it on the strength of his name sounding somewhat familiar, and the fact that it had gone through four editions, so it must have something to recommend it (or else needed a lot of corrections!)
I don't see anything on Baader-Meinhof in the index but I'll keep an eye out.