Manufacturing phobias : the political production of fear in theory and practice

Ramadan, Hisham M, (author,, editor.). Shantz, Jeff, (author,, editor.).

Summary: "Fear is a powerful emotion and a formidable spur to action, a source of worry and--when it is manipulated--a source of injustice. Manufacturing Phobias demonstrates how economic and political elites mobilize fears of terrorism, crime, migration, invasion, and infection to twist political and social policy and advance their own agendas. The contributors to the collection, experts in criminology, law, sociology, and politics, explain how and why social phobias are created by pundits, politicians, and the media, and how they target the most vulnerable in our society. Emphasizing how social phobias reflect the interests of those with political, economic, and cultural power, this work challenges the idea that society's anxieties are merely expressions of individual psychology. Manufacturing Phobias will be a clarion call for anyone concerned about the disturbing consequences of our culture of fear."--

Record details

ISBN: 9781442637276 (cloth)
ISBN: 1442637277 (cloth)
ISBN: 9781442628847 (paper)
ISBN: 1442628847 (paper)
Physical Description: print
viii, 318 pages ; 24 cm.
Publisher: Toronto ; University of Toronto Press, [2016]
Copyright: ©2016

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Pathologizing resistance and promoting anthropophobia : the Violent extremism risk assessment (VERA) as case study / Heidi Rimke -- Conflicts of rights : free speech, freedom to practice a religion and the social phobia mighty machine / Hisham Ramadan -- Phobic constructions : psychological, sociological, criminological articulations / Jeff Shantz and Hisham Ramadan -- Constructions of phobias, fractured and stigmatized selves, and the ideal citizen in Iranian school textbooks / Amir Mirfakhraie -- How to save ... a nation? : televisual fiction post-9/11 / Melissa Ames -- The preparation for national revolution or accepting the inevitable decay? / Dmitry Shlapentokh -- Phobia in an age of post migrant rights : the criminalization of Tamil refugees / Michael CK Ma and Davina Bhandar -- Death panels on the prison planet : the new world order conspiracy and the radicalization of American politics / Johann Pautz -- Degradation ceremonies : fear discourses, phobic production, and the military metaphysic in Canada / Jeff Shantz -- Manufacturing the avaton and the ghetto : places of fear in the centre of Athens / Penny (Panagiota) Koutrolikou -- Afterword : Opposing phobias going forward / Hisham M. Ramadan and Jeff Shantz.