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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 4 page report
discusses what author and sociologist Barry Glassner calls "The Culture of Fear." The
premise of the report is that the amount of unrealistic fear that exists among the
populations of some of the most developed nations of the world is most often directly
related to the portrayal of horrific events by both the news and entertainment media. Two
news reports related to a murder in Australia are used as examples. The concept of "moral
panic" is also briefly discussed. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_BWmpanic.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
by both the news and entertainment media. Barry Glassner, a professor of sociology at the University of Southern California, points out in his 1999 book, The Culture of Fear: Why
Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things offers a point of view that applies to other nations as well as the United States. Wherever the mass media, even of the
most respectable sort, allows tabloid-style sensationalism to govern what it presents, fearfulness is generated among the general public. One of the key issues Glassner discusses is the fact that
modern people are "sold" countless "dubious doubts" that, as he describes in the opening lines of the first chapter of the book: "... would be laughable were they not advanced
with utter seriousness by influential organizations, politicians, and the news media" (pp. 3). For example, the most popular news "magazine" programs in the United States regularly present stories of blind
rage on the nations highways, seemingly random murders, poisons lurking in the environment, and the prevalence of pedophiles, prostitutes, predators, and perverts on virtually every street corner. Similar Fear-Mongering
in Australia It is essential that the student researching this issue understands that such "fear-mongering" does not exist solely in the United States. Regardless of the fact that the U.S.
is generally depicted as such a violent and dangerous nation, one has to remember that crime rates have actually been decreasing over the past decade. Other "western" nations fear that
the same crime and lawlessness that is perceived to exist in the States is certain to be another "product" that evolves as the result of the globalization of not only
the marketplace but social mores. In fact, in Australia many of the same social problems exist -- racism, social stratification, poverty, sexism, government control -- that exist in the United
...