Frank Furedi

During the past 15 years Furedi’s studies have been devoted to an exploration of the cultural developments that influence the construction of contemporary risk consciousness. During the past decade his research has been oriented towards the way that risk and uncertainty is managed by contemporary culture. He has published widely about controversies relating to issues such as health, parenting children, food and new technology. His Invitation To Terror; Expanding the Empire of the Unknown (2007) explores the way in which the threat of terrorism has become amplified through the ascendancy of possibilistic thinking.  It develops the arguments contained in two previous books The Culture of Fear (2003) and Paranoid Parenting (2001). Both of these works investigate the interaction between risk consciousness and perceptions of fear, trust relations and social capital in contemporary society. At present he is working on a study of the cultural history of authority and public opinion. His book On Tolerance: In Defence of Moral Independence is published in September.


Furedi’s books and articles provide an authoritative yet lively account of key developments in contemporary cultural life. Using his insight as a professional sociologist, Furedi has produced a series of agenda-setting books that have been widely discussed in the media. Furedi regularly comments on radio and television. In the past year he has appeared on Newsnight, Sky and BBC News, The Today Programme, Moral Maze and a variety of other radio television shows. His has been interviewed by the media in Australia, Canada, the United States, Poland, Holland, Belgium, Brazil, and Germany and other countries.

A full list of publications that have carried his articles can be found on his official website.

Related Sessions

Saturday 16 May 2009, 1.45pm The Great Hall
Can the state save the economy?

Saturday 31 October 2009, 10.30am Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Rethinking education – the new crisis of adult authority in the classroom

Saturday 31 October 2009, 12.15pm Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Post-recession Ideologies: it's the politics, stupid!

Sunday 1 November 2009, 1.45pm Courtyard Gallery
Working for the State: public service or gravy train?

Sunday 1 November 2009, 5.30pm Henry Moore Gallery
Head to head debate: Is it the duty of schools to promote community cohesion?

Wednesday 4 November 2009, 5.00pm St John's College, University of Oxford
Post-recession ideologies: what ideas will shape the world after the credit crunch?


Publications

On Tolerance: The Life Style Wars: A Defence of Moral Independence (Continuum, 2011)
Wasted: Why Education is Not Educating (Continuum, 2009)
Invitation to Terror: The Expanding Empire of the Unknown (Continuum, 2007)
Where Have All the Intellectual Gone? Confronting 21st Century Philistinism (Continuum, 2005)


Festival Buzz

View: 'Turn That Racket Off'

"Just when Kant's formulation that 'the public exercise of reason should be free' had begun to seem so remote and exhausted, the Battle should reinforce one's faith in the enduring worth of dissent and of the free traffic in ideas"
Swapan Chakravorty, professor of english, Jadavpur University