Frank Furedi

.

Long associated as founder and chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, he entered the media mainstream during the 1990s.

Furedi is author of several books on risk, most recently "Invitation to Terror: The Expanding Empire of the Unknown" (Continuum 2007), an analysis of the impact of terrorism post 9/11. He is a leading sociologist, and, according to research, [ [http://www.socresonline.org.uk/10/3/gaber.html Sociological Research Online] ] the most widely cited in the UK press.

He is the husband of Ann Furedi, the Chief Executive of British Pregnancy Advisory Service, the UK's largest independent abortion provider.

Biography

Furedi's family emigrated from Hungary to Canada after the failed 1956 uprising, and did his Bachelors degree at McGill University in Montreal. He has lived in Britain since 1969, and did his Masters degree (on African politics) and his PhD (on the May Mau revolt in Kenya) at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. [ [www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/academic/furedi/cv-mar08.pdf Curriculum Vitae, University of Kent website] ]

Furedi in the 1970s, while using pseudonym 'Frank Richards', was the founder and chairman of the founded and held the chair of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) of Great Britain. The RCP traversed one of the longest ideological journeys in British politics, starting as a Libertarian Marxist political party through several incarnations into a broad collection of organisations on the libertarian right wing. The RCP disbanded in 1997.

The RCP published a newspaper "The Next Step" throughout the 1980s and the magazine "Living Marxism" (later relaunched as "LM") in the 1990s. Still under Furedi's guidance, the ex-RCP came to concentrate on anti-imperialist and anti-statist traditions in Marxism.

He is associated with the web journal "Spiked Online". Furedi maintains that society and universities are undergoing a politically driven dumbing down process which is manifest in society's growing inability to understand and assess the meaning of risk. The rise of the environmental and green movements parallels society's growing obsession with risk which has become a commodity that some organisations are using to further their objectives. Furedi also attacks the scientific consensus on Global Warming [ [http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/4216/ In 2008, let us challenge the Politics of Apocalypse | spiked ] ] , and has criticised the prominent role played by science in policy formation. [ [http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/4275 The tyranny of science | spiked ] ]

Furedi's academic work was initially devoted to a study of imperialism and race relations. His books on the subject include "The Mau-Mau War in Perspective", "The New Ideology of Imperialism" and "The Silent War: Imperialism and the Changing Perception of Race". In recent years his work has been oriented towards exploring the sociology of risk.

Furedi frequently appears in the media, expressing his view that Western societies have become obsessed with risk. He writes regularly for "Spiked Online". He has also written several books on the subject of risk, offering a counterpoint to the analyses of Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck, including "Paranoid Parenting", "Therapy Culture", and "Culture of Fear".

He wrote an article about risk culture post-9/11, one of several publications from the charity Global Futures. More recently he has criticised opponents of American vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the "Spiked" website. [Frank Furedi [http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5699/ "Turning Sarah Palin into a twenty-first century witch",] Spiked-Online, 8 September 2008.] He claims: "It seems that even fervent advocates of women’s rights will adopt outdated and chauvinistic moral rhetoric when targeting a woman they do not like."

Furedi is a supporter of the British Humanist Association.

Bibliography

*"The Soviet Union Demystified: A Materialist Analysis", Junius Publications, 1986
*"The Mau Mau War in Perspective", James Currey Publishers, 1989
*"Mythical Past, Elusive Future: History and Society in an Anxious Age", Pluto Press, 1991
*"The New Ideology of Imperialism: Renewing the Moral Imperative", Pluto Press, 1994
*"Colonial Wars and the Politics of Third World Nationalism", IB Tauris, 1994
*"Culture of Fear: Risk Taking and the Morality of Low Expectation", Continuum International Publishing Group, 1997
*"Population and Development: A Critical Introduction", Palgrave Macmillan, 1997
*"The Silent War: Imperialism and the Changing Perception of Race", Pluto Press, 1998
*"Courting Mistrust: The Hidden Growth of a Culture of Litigation in Britain", Centre for Policy Studies, 1999
*"Paranoid Parenting: Abandon Your Anxieties and Be a Good Parent", Allen Lane, 2001
*"Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age", Routledge, 2003
*"Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone?: Confronting Twenty-First Century Philistinism", Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004
*"The Politics of Fear. Beyond Left and Right", Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005
*"Invitation to Terror: The Expanding Empire of the Unknown, Continuum International Publishing Group,2007

ee also

*Spiked Review of Books

References

External links

* [http://www.frankfuredi.com Frank Furedi Official Website]
* [http://www.frankfuredi.com/news/sumoffears-20050806.shtml Interview: The Sum of Our Fears]
* [http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=78 Living Marxism profile] , GM Watch
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,341053,00.html Life after Living Marxism: Banning the bans] , David Pallister, John Vidal and Kevin Maguire, "Guardian"
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1102753,00.html Invasion of the Entryists] , George Monbiot, "Guardian"
* [http://www.spiked-online.com/ Spiked Online]