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Barry Glassner

The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things Paperback – March 16, 2000

by Barry Glassner (Author)

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There has never been another era in modern history, even during wartime or the Great Depression, when so many people have feared so much. Three out of four Americans say they feel more fearful today then they did twenty years ago. The Culture of Fear describes the high costs of living in a fear-ridden environment where realism has become rarer than doors without deadbolts.Why do we have so many fears these days? Are we living in exceptionally dangerous times? To watch the news, you'd certainly think so, but Glassner demonstrates that it is our perception of danger that has increased, not the actual level of risk. The Culture of Fear is an expose of the people and organizations that manipulate our perceptions and profit from our fears: politicians who win elections by heightening concerns about crime and drug use even as rates for both are declining; advocacy groups that raise money by exaggerating the prevalence of particular diseases; TV newsmagazines that monger a new scare every week to garner ratings.Glassner spells out the prices we pay for social panics: the huge sums of money that go to waste on unnecessary programs and products as well as time and energy spent worrying about our fears.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A gutsy exposé of one of the most widespread delusions of our time: misplaced fear." -- The Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Lucidly exposes how the media and politicians play to Americans' fears, presenting anomalous incidents as rampant dangers." -- Entertainment Weekly

"[Glassner] is a sharp critic of the hypocrisies that compose much of American political discourse." -- LA Weekly

"[Glassner] wields an impressive body of research and consequently enjoys the power of redefining reality for a moment in history." -- Salon

About the Author

Barry Glassner is Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California. He is the author of seven books, including Career Crash and Bodies. He has been quoted extensively or profiled in articles in dozens of newspapers and magazines. His own articles and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and The London Review of Books.

Product details

Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Basic Books; Later Printing edition (March 16, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0465014909
ISBN-13: 978-0465014903
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
Customer Reviews: 171 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #898,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4863 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences
- #2597 in Emotional Mental Health
- #19166 in Sociology (Books)

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Buy the original edition and save your money

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2019

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I thought this was a totally updated edition. It is not updated AT ALL! All chapters use pre 9-11 statistics and data. The only thing updated is a new chapter at the end which does a "what now/where are we going" left leaning analysis.
I loved the original book but feel very cheated that the publisher released this as a new edition. NOTHING CHANGED.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Money Honey

Expected More Not Another Book with an Agenda

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2017

I absolutely love books that help me understand my behavioral weaknesses & thought process vulnerabilities. Some of the most life changing books I've ever read were Dan Gardner's "Science of Fear", Robert Frank's "Success and Luck" & Dan Gilbert's "Stumbling on Happiness". All of these books dig deep into human psychology and help the reader understand how we come to believe certain things that really aren't based in reality, how our emotions drive our actions, etc... I purchased this book hoping it to would provide insights into these topics as well. After reading the first two chapters I realized this book was nothing like the others. I got about 1/2 way through & just decided I was done. This book is much more politically tilted than the others I'd read. In the first 2 chapters the author makes it clear where he stands on some of the mostly hotly debated topics in America today and then spends the rest of the book trying to use incomplete facts to convince the reader his view is the right view. He uses road rage & school shootings as ways to further push an agenda of more gun control, suggests studies about the breakdown of the family unit are just an attack on single mothers, etc... I consider myself to be fairly middle of the road politically and try to avoid overly partisan reading material because I just find it so frustrating how the material gets twisted to support a view vs. presented in a manner that allows the reader to form their own opinion. Unfortunately this book didn't offer me the in-depth analysis and thought provoking content I'd been hoping for.

6 people found this helpful

Rev4u

A great reading material for the media addict !

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2004

Glassner has writtten a great expose about our delusional and paranoiac media system that perpetuates illusions, delusions, and partial truth, placing us in a constant imbroglio, and rendering our society into a bewildered, scared, narcissistic, paranoid, homophobic, split/schizophrenic, and brainwashed society.
Glassner will provide you in his book with truthful material that will encourage the average person to cogitate, instead of simply absorb what the venomous media imbues in our minds.
Media 101 teaches that fear works and gets ratings. "instill fear in them and they shall follow."
The airwaves belong to the public and we should claim it back. We should contact our FCC and demand unbiased, honest, and decent programming.
Fear is the driving force and the major psychological component of terror. Fear incapacitates people and renders them impotent. Fear is conducive to regressive behaviors by responsible adults. Fears justifies our willingness to relinquish our most intimate and sacred rights in order to feel safe. Fear is primal. It brings out the primitive and reptilian part of our humanity.
It is tragic that the media outlets dictate our lives, educate our children, and shape our daily opinions.
We are treated as frightened, dependent, and ignorant children that will follow their parents anywhere to
survive. Walter Lippmann (a media Guru) has called us (the people) the perfect name "the bewildered herd." Or are we? The culture of fear makes a great reading that would help us dispel the myth behind our glamorous media !

14 people found this helpful

Bucherwurm

The Phantom Menaces of The Media

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2000

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Actual newspaper headline: The number of homicides committed by children age 12 and under grew by 125%! Should we be afraid of being done in by tiny tots? Well, the 125% increase brings the annual total up to about 40 per year. I would guess that means there are 40 bad eggs in a population of about 40 million little guys.
The misleading reporting just recounted is what this book is all about. Only anecdotal evidence and misleading statistics typically support the latest report on the newest "national menace". Then, to really convince you that you should be frightened out of your wits, some second rate professional or scholar is quoted saying that things are just awful. A prominent west coast newspaper declared that the Pacific Northwest was a region particularly "plagued by a rise in road rage", and then after 22 paragraphs of anecdotes and warnings, informed the reader that 5 people had died in road rage incidents in the region in the last five years. "One death a year constitutes a plague?" asks the author.
In my own experience I am frequently frustrated by these kinds of stories which are often found in the nation's two major newsweeklies (which publications come under frequent attack by Glassner). I am repeatedly asked to believe in some new horror for which only a few anecdotes are presented as support.
The sad thing is that this unfortunate reporting has resulted in unnecessary laws; corporate bankruptcies; misapplication of scarce resources; and the ignoring of true problems and their causes. You may disagree with some of the author's views, but hopefully reading the book will make you more skeptical the next time a news anchor tries to inform you of the national danger brought about by the increasing number of people bludgeoned to death with a frozen leg of lamb.

15 people found this helpful

Maxime Renaud

Absolutely recommend this book to anyone who watches the news.

Reviewed in Canada on December 11, 2015

Amazing work. Mostly covers issues that were important in the 1990s, but the same Fear recipe is used by today's media. Extremely eye-opening, and reassuring, since it puts everything into context: life is not dangerous, taking the plane is extremely safe, driving your car is more dangerous than terrorism. So full of truth, I love it.

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S B 37

Pour rester critique

Reviewed in France on March 20, 2011

J'ai découvert ce livre il y a quelques années, et les thèses argumentées que l'on y trouve offrent une chance de rester lucide sur la construction médiatique et politique du monde.

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garbrex

Don't Fear This

Reviewed in Japan on September 23, 2003

Barry Glassner's 'The Culture of Fear' ranks right up there with Michael Moore's 'Downsize This' for putting the current trends in American media, politics, and thoughts into perspective. This book is a must-read for the ease with which it confronts popular myths played up by the American media, politicians, and non-profit groups. I highly recommend this book.

3 people found this helpful

wontonwoo

アメリカでも日本でも同じ所ありますね

Reviewed in Japan on November 10, 2004

They(Media) invite us to redirect (more accurately, misdirect) our self-doubts. 自分より極端な例をあげつらって、自分てこんなに普通なんだと自己不信を取り除いてくれるニュースを見せられていると言っています。西尾幹二氏の「確信の喪失」に繋がるように思います。アメリカについて書かれていますが、流される情報の正確さを確認する術を持たない我々は、少なくとも「結局本当はどうであったのかを見せられるまで」情報はあくまで疑いとして扱う態度であるべきと思いました。「バイオインフォマティクスで100匹のマウスを使い確認しました」と言っても「100匹のマウスの仕入先が同じで、偏った遺伝子配列を基に実験した」こともありでしょう。サンプルのサイズ、確立分布における歪度など統計を勉強しないと簡単に騙されるなと思いました。

One person found this helpful

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