Includes bibliographical references (pages 178-185) and index.
Introduction : on the origin, dynamics and uses of fear -- Dread of death -- Fear and evil -- Horror of the unmanageable -- Terrors of the global -- Setting fears afloat -- Thought against fear (or, an inconclusive conclusion for those who may ask what might be done). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
"Modernity was supposed to be the period in human history when the fears that pervaded social life in the past could be left behind and human beings could at last take control of their lives and tame the uncontrolled forces of the social and natural worlds. And yet, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, we live again in a time of fear. Whether it's the fear of natural disasters, the fear of environmental catastrophes or the fear of indiscriminate terrorist attacks, we live today in a state of constant anxiety about the dangers that could strike unannounced and at any moment. 'Fear' is the name we give to our uncertainty in the face of the dangers that characterize our liquid-modern age, to our ignorance of what the threat is and our incapacity to determine what can and can't be done to counter it." "This new book by Zygmunt Bauman - one of the foremost social thinkers of our time - is an inventory of liquid modern fears. It is also an attempt to uncover their common sources, to analyse the obstacles that pile up on the road to their discovery and to examine the ways of putting them out of action or rendering them harmless. Through his account of the fears and anxieties that weigh on us today, Bauman alerts us to the scale of the task which we shall have to confront through most of the current century if we wish our fellow humans to emerge at its end feeling more secure and self-confident than we feel at its beginning."--BOOK JACKET.
0745636799 9780745636795 0745636802 9780745636801
2007296202
Fear. Anxiety. Globalization--Social aspects Postmodernism--Social aspects Civilization, Modern--20th century