Outwardly, we live in an era that appears more open-minded, non-judgemental and tolerant than in any time in human history. The very term intolerant invokes moral condemnation. We are constantly remin
Moral Crusades in an Age of Mistrust examines the sociological meaning of the sudden transformation of Jimmy Savile, the cultural icon, into the personification of evil. The epidemic of scandals unlea
Paranoid Parenting is an important book that shows how parental fears have been stoked and families harmed as a consequence. It ought to be read by every sensible individual interested in regaining a
The book breaks new ground in following the story of the participants of the rural movement during the decade after the defeat of the Mau Mau. New archival sources and interviews provide exciting mate
Therapy Culture explores the powerful influence of therapeutic imperative in Anglo-American societies. In recent decades virtually every sphere of life has become subject to a new emotional culture. P
Eminent cultural and social historian Frank Furedi presents an eclectic and entirely original history of reading. The very act of reading and the choice of reading material endow individuals with an i
Frank Furedi argues that Western culture appears to feed off a diet of terror and inadvertently offers its enemies an invitation to be terrorised. We have not developed an intellectual framework in w
The radical transformation that universities are undergoing today is no less far-reaching than the upheavals that it experienced in the 1960s. However today, when almost 50 per cent of young people pa
The radical transformation that universities are undergoing today is no less far-reaching than the upheavals that it experienced in the 1960s. However today when almost 50 per cent of young people par
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
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 h
The radical transformation that universities are undergoing today is no less far-reaching than the upheavals that it experienced in the 1960s. However today when almost 50 per cent of young people par
Concern with authority is as old as human history itself. Eve's sin was to challenge the authority of God by disobeying his rule. Frank Furedi explores how authority was contested in ancient Greece and given a powerful meaning in Imperial Rome. Debates about religious and secular authority dominated Europe through the Middle Ages and the Reformation. The modern world attempted to develop new foundations for authority – democratic consent, public opinion, science – yet Furedi shows that this problem has remained unresolved, arguing that today the authority of authority is questioned. This historical sociology of authority seeks to explain how the contemporary problems of mistrust and the loss of legitimacy of many institutions are informed by the previous attempts to solve the problem of authority. It argues that the key pioneers of the social sciences (Marx, Durkheim, Simmel, Tonnies and especially Weber) regarded this question as one of the principal challenges facing society.
Disturbed by the profound sense of disorientation that appears to afflict many of our cultural institutions, universities and schools, the author was prompted to write this book as he thinks the publi
In 1997, Frank Furedi published a book called Culture of Fear. It was widely acclaimed as perceptive and prophetic. Now Furedi returns to his original theme, as most of what he predicted has come true
Never has so much attention been devoted to education. Everyone - government ministers, social commentators and parents obsess about its problems. Yet we rarely ask why? Why is education a source of s
