Politics of Fear

Furedi (sociology, U. of Kent) believes there is little ideological difference between left and right these days. Instead he finds most politics to be governed by a "vulnerability paradigm" that, in his view, valorized help-seeking, has a skepticism towards the efficacy of knowledge, celebrates and caution and safety, anticipates that individuals and communities are unlikely to cope, and perceive change as the precursor of negative outcome, among other characteristics. He proposes to replace this paradigm with his own "humanist paradigm" that appears to differ little from traditional liberal individualism, given its contrasting emphases on the valorization of autonomy, orientation towards reasoning, positive attitude towards risk-taking, expectation in the ability of individuals and communities to cope, and belief in the positive capacity of change. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Frank Furedi is Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent at Canterbury. He is the author of numerous books including Culture of Fear, Invitation to Terror and Paranoid Parenting, all published by Continuum.