The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain

by Daniel Gardner

The millennium bug was a bust, but that hasn’t stopped theories of annihilation from piling up so quickly it’s become almost commonplace to hear claims that humanity will be lucky to survive the next century. Ulrich Beck isn’t quite that pessimistic. As the German sociologist and professor at the London School of Economics told The Guardian newspaper, he merely thinks it “improbable” that humanity will survive “beyond the 21st century without a lapse back into barbarism.” Beck’s opinion counts more than most because he was among the first to realize that modern countries were becoming nations of worriers. Back in 1986, he coined the term “risk society” to describe countries in which there is heightened concern about risk—particularly risks caused by modern technology—and where people are frightened like never before.