Cultures of Fear: A Critical Reader

In "Cultures of Fear", a truly world-class line up of scholars explore how governments use fear in order to control their citizens. The ´social contract´ gives modern states responsibility for the security of their citizens, but this collection argues that governments often nurture a culture of fear within their countries. When people are scared of ´terrorist´ threats, or ´alarming rises´ in violent crime they are more likely to accept oppressive laws from their rulers. The book explores how a culture of fear can be inculcated to help govern populations (in an El Salvador ripped apart by civil war, or in the controlled paranoia of a United States constantly vigilant for the terrorist threat), and how humanitarian organizations can perpetuate fear rather than eradicating the source of it. Geopolitics of Fear also looks closely at rape and sexual violence as an instrument of control and terror, and how atrocities are normalized through the media. "Cultures of Fear" is an interdisciplinary reader for students of anthropology and politics. Contributors include Noam Chomsky, Slavoj Zizek, Jean Baudrillard, Catharine MacKinnon, Neil Smith, Cynthia Enloe, David L. Altheide, Cynthia Cockburn and Carolyn Nordstrum