San Antonio College Library

"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;...

The author is identified on the flap copy as a "business consultant who has worked largely in the airline industry." He refers to himself as a "practicing general semanticist." Whatever his qualifications, he speaks clearly to the lay audience and to educators about the importance of understanding the connections between numbers and meaning, and the origins and consequences of a lack of understanding.

More people today report feeling anxious than ever before, even while living in relatively safe and prosperous modern societies. Almost one in five people experiences an anxiety disorder each year, and more than a quarter of the population admits to an anxiety condition at some point in their lives. Here the author, a sociologist of mental illness and mental health, narrates how this condition has been experienced, understood, and treated through...

"Chas Critcher's study is doubly welcome as it discusses theoretical underpinnings thoroughly, and also provides a set of illustrative case studies ... This is an important and stimulating book for a range of audiences."--"VISTA Vol 8 no 3". How are social problems defined and responded to in contemporary society? What is the role of the media in creating, endorsing and sustaining moral panics? The term 'moral panic' is frequently applied to sudden...

In Fear of Intimacy, the authors bring almost 40 years of clinical experience to bear in challenging the usual ways of thinking about couples and families. They argue that relationships fail not because of the commonly cited reasons but because of psychological defenses formed in childhood that act as a barrier to closeness in adulthood. Written in clear, jargon-free language, Fear of Intimacy shows how therapists can help couples identify and overcome...

For many, September 11 inaugurated a new era of fear. But as Robin shows in his unsettling tour of the Western imagination--the first intellectual history of its kind--fear has shaped our politics and culture since time immemorial. As our faith in progress recedes, he argues, we turn to fear as the justifying language of public life. We may not know the good, but we do know the bad--so we cling to fear, abandoning the quest for justice, equality,...

The worldwide prominence of snakes in religion, myth, and folklore underscores our deep connection to the serpent -- but why, when so few of us have firsthand experience? The surprising answer, this book suggests, may lie in the singular impact of snakes on primate evolution. Predation pressure from snakes, Lynne Isbell tells us, is ultimately responsible for the superior vision and large brains of primates -- and for a critical aspect of human evolution....

This is a compelling analysis of how women in the United States perceive the threat of crime in their everyday lives and how that perception controls their behavior. Esther Madriz draws on focus groups and in-depth interviews to show the damage that fear can wreak on women of different ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. Although anxiety about crime affects virtually every woman, Madriz shows that race and class position play a role in a woman's sense...

For the first time in English the world community of scholars is systematically assembling and presenting the results of recent research in the vast literature of Soren Kierkegaard. Based on the definitive English edition of Kierkegaard's works by Princeton University Press, this series of commentaries addresses all the published texts of the influential Danish philosopher and theologian.