Skip to main content
Log in

Scared selfish: a culture of fear’s values in the age of terrorism

  • Published:
The American Sociologist Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the Age of Terrorism fear becomes a constant companion. This is particularly true in a society already beset by a culture of fear. We explore some cognitive effects of fear induced by victimization to explain America’s reaction to the events of 9/11. Using reliable measures of value orientations we find that exposure to violence produces a shift in value orientations toward values that are more self-enhancing. America’s seemingly fractured state may be explained in part by this effect.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Altheide, David L. 2004. “Consuming Terrorism.”Symbolic Interaction 27: 289–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beckett, Katherine and Theodore Sasson. 2000.The Politics of Injustice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callanan, Valerie Jean. 2001.The Determinants of Punitiveness: The Effects of Crime-Related Media Consumption and Crime Salience on Californians’ Support for Three Strikes Sentencing. Dissertation, University of California Riverside.

  • Eschholz, Sarah. 1997. “The Media and Fear of Crime: A Survey of the Research.”Journal of Law and Public Policy 9: 37–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eschholz, Sarah, Ted Chiricos and Marc Gertz. 2003. “Television and Fear of Crime: Program Types, Audience Traits, and the Mediating Effect of Perceived Neighborhood Racial Composition.”Social Problems 50: 395–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feather, Norman T. 1992. “Values, Valences, Expectations, and Actions.”Journal of Social Issues 48:109–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferraro, Kenneth. 1996. “Women’s Fear of Victimization: Shadow of Sexual Assault?”Social Forces 75: 667–690.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, James Alan, Jack Levin and Kenna Quinet. 2005.The Will to Kill, second edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Furedi, Frank. 1997.Culture of Fear: Risk-Taking and the Morality of Low Expectations. London: Casell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, Chris L., Jihong Zhao, Nicholas P. Lovrich, and Michael J. Gafney. 2002. “Social Integration, Individual Perceptions of Collective Efficacy, and Fear of Crime in Three Cities.”Justice Quarterly 19: 537–564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glassner, Barry. 1999.The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Fear the Wrong Things. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartnagel, Timothy F. 1979. “The Perception and Fear of Crime: Implications for Neighborhood Cohesion, Social Activity, and Community Affect.”Social Forces 58: 176–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heath, Linda and Kevin Gilbert. 1996. “Mass Media and Fear of Crime.”American Behavioral Scientist 39:379–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kemper, Theodore D. 1987. “How Many Emotions Are There: Wedding the Social and the Autonomie Components.”

  • — 1991. “Predicting Emotions from Social Relations.”Social Psychology Quarterly, 54: 330–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kluckhohn, Clyde. 1951. “Values and Value-Orientations in the Theory of Action: An Exploration in Definition and Classification.” Pp. 388–442 inToward a General Theory of Action, edited by T. Parsons and E.A. Shils. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, Melvin M. and Carmi Schooler. 1969. “Class, Occupation, and Orientation.”American Sociological Review 34:659–678.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lane, Jodi and James W. Meeker. 2003. “Ethnicity, Information Sources, and Fear of Crime.”Deviant Behavior, 24: 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liska, Allen E, Andrew Sanchirico and Mark D. Reed. 1988. “Fear of Crime and Constrained Behavior: Specifying and Estimating a Reciprocal Effects Model.”Social Forces 66: 827–837.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, Neil J. 1994.Symbolic Interaction as Affect Control. Albany: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massumi, Brian. 1993.The Politics of Everyday Fear. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Près.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, Shalom H. 1992. “Universais in the Content and Structure of Values: Theoretical Advances and Empirical Tests in 20 Countries.” Pp. 1 -65 inAdvances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 25, edited by M.P. Zanna. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1994. “Are There Universal Aspects in the Structure and Nature of Human Values.”The Journal of Social Issues 50: 19–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • — 1996. “Value Priorities and Behavior: Applying a Theory of Integrated Value Systems.” Pp. 1–24 inThe Psychology of Values: The Ontario Symposium, Vol. 8, edited by C. Seligman, J.M. Olson and M.P. Zanna. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, Shalom H. and Sipke Huismans. 1995. “Value Priorities and Religiosity in Four Western Religions.”Social Psychology Quarterly 58: 88–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, Shalom H. Gila Melech, Arielle Lehmann, Steven Burgess, Mari Harris, Vicki Owens. 2001. “Extending the Cross-Cultural Validity of the Theory of Basic Human Values with a Different Method of Measurement.”Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 32: 519–542.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith-Lovin, Lynn and David R. Heise (eds). 1988.Analyzing Social Interaction: Advances in Affect Control Theory. New York: Gordon and Breach.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tetlock, Philip E. 1986. “A Value Pluralism Model of Ideological Reasoning.”The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50: 819–827.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Robin. 1951.American Society: A Sociological Interpretation. New York: Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Konty, M., Duell, B. & Joireman, J. Scared selfish: a culture of fear’s values in the age of terrorism. Am Soc 35, 93–109 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692399

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692399

Keywords

Navigation