Never has so much attention been devoted to education - and the problems with it. Yet we rarely ask why everyone from the government to parents continually obsess about it. Why are we so constantly worried about it? Why do so many of the solutions proposed actually make matters worse? This book attempts to answer these questions.

Investigates the way scaremongering influences us and just how much the resulting fears can dictate our daily habits and alter the way we lead our lives. Covering various scare stories, this book reveals how scaremongering has actually become a respectable enterprise, with 'fear appeals' being openly discussed by public health officials.

An examination from numerous perspectives of how the British National Curriculum has been distorted in pursuit of political ends

Virtually everyone agrees that terrorism is defined by its impact on the public it targets. Yet there seems to be very little open discussion about how society has responded to it and how people are affected by it. This book argues that what we really need to worry about is not what terrorists do but our reaction to it.

A fiery polemic by an established author and journalist against the dumbing down of our contemporary cultural and political life.

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.

The terms left and right pervade all our discussions of politics. But do they mean anything any more? And is it really satisfactory to reduce all our political debate to these two terms? Furedi shows how contemporary and recent developments, including the Cold War, the Culture Wars and Third Way-type managerialism, have created the need for a new conception of politics with an adequate ...

This study explores the powerful influence of therapeutic imperative in Anglo-American societies where nearly every sphere of life has become subject to a new emotional culture. It suggests that the cultural turn toward the realm of the emotions coincides with a radical redefinition of personhood.

Hardly a day goes by without parents being warned of a new threat to their children's well-being. Everything is dangerous: the crib, the babysitter, the school, the supermarket, the park. High-profile campaigns convince parents that their children's health, safety, and development are constantly at risk. Parents are criticized by one child-care expert after another, but even the experts can't ...

Contains ideas on how to stop disabling youth and instead bring out their full potential. This book shows how parental fears have been stoked and families harmed as a consequence. Based on sociological research, this book can bolster your confidence in your own judgements and enable you to bring up self-assured, imaginative, capable children.

Argues that Western culture appears to feed off a diet of terror and inadvertently offers its enemies an invitation to be terrorised. Starting with the question of 'Why do they hate us?', this title helps to find ourselves unsure of who 'they' are. It engages with some of the most fundamental questions confronting society.

During the 19th century vast areas of the underdeveloped world were invaded and colonized under the justification of anti-slavery and the civilizing mission. In this analysis, Furedi demonstrates how, in the late 20th century, the major nations of the West are again intervening in the Third World.

Some fear that population growth is the major threat facing humanity. Others argue that the link between population growth and insecurity is unproven. This book discusses both sides of this debate, examining how the arguments have evolved, and questioning the assumptions of the main protagonists.

Traces the history of Western colonial racist ideology and its role in the subjugation of the peoples of the non-West. Focusing on the Second World War as the crucial turning point in racist ideology, this book argues that the defeat of Nazism left the West uneasy with its own racist past.

Explains the useful contribution of intellectuals both to culture and to democracy - and why we need to recreate a public sphere in which intellectuals and the general public can talk to each other again.

An examination of the controversies that surround education, tradition and history in an international context. The author examines the sources of the controversy that have arisen around the question of history in Germany, Japan, Britain and the USA.

Some fear that population growth is the major threat facing humanity. Others argue that the link between population growth and insecurity is unproven. This book discusses both sides of this debate, examining how the arguments have evolved, and questioning the assumptions of the main protagonists.