Name: The Culture of Fear
ISBN: 9780465014903

The Culture of Fear

In this eye-opening examination of a pathology that has swept the country, sociologist Barry Glassner reveals why Americans are burdened with overblown fears. He exposes the people and organizations that manipulate our perceptions and profit from our anxieties: politicians who win elections by heightening concerns about crime and drug use even as 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. Barry Glassner's book diagnoses a predominant pathology of our age and provides a rallying cry for a return to rationality in our personal lives and in our national sense of purpose.

What Hacker News says

reverendsteveiiJun 2025

as a followup to that (excellent) book, here's Barry Glassner - A Culture of Fear. The Better Angels of Our Nature talks about how violence has always been declining. A Culture of Fear talks about how the rate of that decline has been increasing since the 90s but people actually perceive things as becoming more dangerous rather than less, and attempts to come up with an answer as to why that may be the case.

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georgeecollinsJun 2022

Decades old and still completely relevant, "Culture of Fear": https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Fear-Americans-Afraid-Things/...

Also, in my experience older people just get more paranoid. I have seen it happen with family members who are otherwise pretty sharp. They get more wary or suspicious in ways that aren't very rational. Since that is a lot of the folk who hang out on places like Nextdoor, I can see how that goes. That's why you need diversity and young families in neighborhoods. It provides balance.

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aphextimDec 2019

I read a book a while back, and it is even more relavaent today.

The Culture of Fear - Barry Glassner

https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Fear-Americans-Minorities-Mic...

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itcheezeMay 2019

There is a good book I read about this years ago (pre-9/11) called The Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner. It went in depth into the different things that people are afraid of and how they are covered in the media vs what you are actually likely to die from. Definitely made me think a little differently about what I saw on the news for good or bad.

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georgeecollinsAug 2018

The economic and social factors that have caused news to become less than helpful have been understood for a long time and clearly described. It is just that the warnings went unheeded and the problem has become extreme. Rather than watch the news (or go to a news website) read these excellent books: - The Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner - Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

Rather than get distracted by news trivia, learn something from these books that have stood the test of time.

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yanJun 2009

A book that I loved in HS on a similar topic, just more focused on the social aspect of it is "The Culture of Fear" by Barry Glassner. Recommended also.

http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Fear-Americans-Afraid-Things/d...

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