Abstract
Fear is a primary emotion—one that is universally experienced and provides the basis for more complex emotions. While the emotion of fear has survival value—think fight or flight—excessive fear can have negative consequences, including social withdrawal, anxiety, and depression. At the societal level, research on fear in the United States has described American culture as one of emotional overreactions and excessive fear. Not only do Americans have high levels of fear in general, but their fears tend to show poor correspondence to actual risk of harm due to a particular concern.
For these reasons and more, the study of fear provides great insights into the culture and well-being of the American population. This point is clearly illustrated in Fear Itself: The Causes and Consequences of Fear in America. In this scholarly text, authors Christopher D. Bader, Joseph O. Baker, L. Edward Day, and Ann Gordon provide a detailed, empirical portrait of Americans’ fears from 2014 through 2018. Building on the work of notable culture of fear scholars including Barry Glassner, Frank Furedi, and David Altheide, the authors detail American fears, their sources, and their variation over time.
The basis of the text is quantitative survey data from the Chapman University Survey of American Fears, conducted annually since 2014 by the Earl Babbie Research Center. This survey has been a valuable source of information for researchers and is cited in most recent academic discussions of American fear. Led by principal investigators Bader, Day, and Gordon, the survey asks a nationally representative sample about a variety of possible fears, with 95 different fear sources queried over the years, ranging from crime, terrorism, and national disasters to spiders, clowns, and zombies.
It is rare that such a readable text can stem from analyses of quantitative data. Indeed, the authors go beyond descriptive information to present multivariate analyses of predictors of fear in a way that is easily comprehendible by the lay reader. For example, rather than presenting detailed regression tables, the authors present lists of independent variables along with standardized coefficients, explaining how they serve as indicators of the magnitude of effects. Bar charts and line graphs are used throughout the text to illustrate frequencies and social group-based differences in fear as well as trends over time.
The book is segmented into six chapters. The introduction and first chapter present social patterns of fear. The authors report who is fearful (e.g., younger, nonwhite women), what it is that Americans are afraid of (e.g., corrupt government officials, pollution, and not having enough money for the future), and why Americans have these fears (e.g., the influence of the media and politicians). A key theme of Chapter One is how our fears reflect social and political divisions. While conservatives report heightened fear of Islamic extremists, liberals are overwhelmingly afraid of “Trumpcare.” As the authors note, “When a particular fear becomes heavily politicized, there is a concomitant rise in fear among liberals and conservatives” (p. 30).
In the second chapter, the authors present evidence that portrays the United States as a “conspiracy nation.” Americans tend to assume the existence of powerful others who are controlling the events happening around them, often with malicious intent. The survey asked respondents if they believe that the government is concealing what it knows about seven different issues, including a fabricated event, the “South Dakota Crash.” The statistics reveal belief in conspiracies regarding John F. Kennedy’s assassination (61 percent), the September 11 attacks (53 percent), aliens (50 percent), illuminati (43 percent), mass shootings (43 percent), the “South Dakota Crash” (32 percent), and the moon landing (30 percent) (p. 38). To further probe conspiracy beliefs, the authors combined responses regarding illuminati, 9/11, JFK, and mass shootings into an “Info Wars” scale. By this measure, belief in conspiracies tends to be greatest among young, white, poorly educated, and xenophobic men. Technology use also plays a part, with frequency of smartphone use positively related to belief in conspiracies, as with “advances in communication technology, we are constantly inundated by information not directly connected to our own lives” (p. 57).
Interestingly, despite all of these fears, the data suggest that Americans, in general, are not terribly prepared for adverse events. Just 30 percent of respondents indicated that they had a basic emergency kit, and only 36 percent have emergency plans in place; yet 83 percent believe such a kit would help them survive in the event of a disaster (pp. 62–63). Although generally unprepared, respondents reported high levels of fear of events that they could make some preparation for, including the natural disasters of a pandemic, drought, or hurricane and man-made disasters including biological warfare, financial collapse, and a nuclear weapon attack.
Chapters Four and Five draw the reader’s attention to the highly publicized concerns of terrorism and crime. Key in these chapters is that “paying close attention to media coverage of terrorism and mass shootings also increases the public’s fears about such events” (p. 77). The authors observe a split by media source, with viewers of Fox News being more fearful of Islamic extremists and extreme environmentalists and viewers of MSNBC showing lowered fear of these groups. Fear of terrorism in particular is also linked to Islamophobia, with heightened levels of Islamophobia being reported by Fox News viewers relative to those who consume more liberal sources of media. The data also address the relationship between punitiveness—attitudes supporting more severe sentences, the death penalty, reduced prisoner privileges—and fear of crime. The analyses reveal that “fear of crime increases punitiveness by increasing white Americans’ fears about foreigners and immigrants—those who are socially ‘other’ compared to whites” (p. 107).
Furthermore, despite a decline in actual crime over time, most Americans believe that the crime rate is rising, and this belief is reflected in fear of crime. For example, from 2015 to 2018, the data show a 6 percent increase in fear of mass shootings, 11.8 percent increase in fear of being hit by a drunk driver, 8.8 percent increase in fear of being murdered by a stranger, and a 7.9 percent increase in fear of racial/hate crime (p. 94). Again, the role of media here is central: violent crimes with female, white, and young (or very old) victims are most likely to get coverage, especially if the suspects are immigrants or have non-Christian religious affiliations, which creates the “deviance amplification spiral” in which the public has distorted perceptions of crime that do not match reality (p. 99).
The final chapter and conclusion of the text address the consequences of fear. The authors draw on the analyses they report in the previous chapters to derive implications of their findings regarding fear in the United States. Citing the skewed media coverage of attention-grabbing crimes, and the association between media consumption and conspiracy theories, the authors discuss the ways in which fear can have social, psychological, and political consequences. Namely, fear can reduce social trust and cohesion and increase the consequences of xenophobia. The authors conclude, “In the evolutionary sense, fear has unquestionably had positive benefits for survival. But in the contemporary world, increased levels of fear are detrimental for optimal cognitive functioning, personal well-being, and communal health” (p. 125). Being aware of the factors that generate excessive fear (partisan media, politicians, and social media), the authors argue, may reduce these negative effects. This advice may be particularly useful in the current context, as early research on the effects of the coronavirus pandemic is showing elevated fear among the public as well as partisan divisions in coping responses.
Overall, Fear Itself addresses a highly salient topic that will be of interest to academic and trade audiences alike. The authors have done a commendable job of conveying statistical analyses in a manner that is easily understandable by the lay reader. The book may have particular value in an undergraduate class, as it can serve as a model of the value of systematically collected quantitative data and the application of statistics to our understanding of current issues. While presented in an easily understandable format and focused on correlational analyses, the book contains valuable empirical insights that will certainly be useful to fear scholars.