Frank Furedi

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| image = Frank Furedi by David Shankbone.jpg

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| birth_name = {{lang|hu|Füredi Ferenc|italic=no}}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|05|03|df=y}}

| birth_place = Budapest, Hungary{{r|"fivethings"}}

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| other_names = Frank Richards

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| spouse = {{marriage|Ann Furedi|1982}}

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| website = {{url|https://www.frankfuredi.com/|frankfuredi.com}}

| education = {{ubl|McGill University (BA)|SOAS University of London (MA)|University of Kent (PhD)}}

| thesis_title = {{nobr|The Mau Mau Revolt in Perspective:}} The Betrayal of a Dream

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| thesis_year = 1987

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| discipline = Sociology

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| workplaces = University of Kent

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| notable_students = Munira Mirza

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Frank Furedi ({{langx|hu|Füredi Ferenc}}; born 3 May 1947){{cite journal|title=Who Are They?: Jenny Turner reports from the Battle of Ideas |last=Turner |first=Jenny |date=8 July 2010 |journal=London Review of Books |volume=32 |issue=13 |pages=3–8, 5 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n13/jenny-turner/who-are-they |access-date=6 February 2017}} is a Hungarian-Canadian academic and emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent. He is well known for his work on sociology of fear, education, therapy culture, sociology of knowledge, and what he calls "paranoid parenting".

Early life and education

Furedi's family emigrated from Hungary to Canada after the failed 1956 uprising, and he completed a bachelor's degree in international relations at McGill University.{{cite web|title=Frank Furedi: Five things I have learned |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11405074 |date=26 September 2010 |publisher=BBC News}} He has lived in Britain since 1969. He completed an MA in African politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies,[http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/academic/furedi/cv-mar08.pdf Curriculum Vitae] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715031636/http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/academic/furedi/cv-mar08.pdf |date=2010-07-15}}, University of Kent website{{primary source inline|date=December 2020}} and received a PhD from the University of Kent in 1987 with a thesis on the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya.{{cite journal|last=Beckett |first=Ian |date=1992 |title=University, Doctoral and Research Theses on British Military History |journal=Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research |volume=70 |number=281 |pages=46–50 |jstor=44225703}}{{cite book|last=Siler |first=Michael J. |date=2004 |title=Strategic Security Issues in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comprehensive Annotated Bibliography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvpbUT31tZkC&pg=PA670 |place=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=Praeger |page=670 |isbn=0-313-32025-X}}

Revolutionary Communist Party and offshoots

A former student radical, he became involved in left-wing politics in Britain in the 1970s, in particular, as a member of the International Socialists (IS), under the pseudonym Frank Richards. He and others were expelled from the IS in 1973 and formed the Revolutionary Communist Group, then in 1976, he and his followers were expelled from this group and formed the Revolutionary Communist Tendency, refounded in 1978 as the Revolutionary Communist Party.{{cite web|title=Licence to rile |newspaper=The Guardian |date=15 May 1999 |url=http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/may/15/weekend7.weekend2}}

The RCP was distinguished by its contrarianism, commitment to theoretical elaboration and hostility to state intervention in social life. Key positions for the party were involvement in anti-imperialist politics, including removal of British troops in Northern Ireland and opposition to the gulf war.

In December 1990, the RCP's magazine Living Marxism ran an article by Furedi, entitled "Midnight in the Century", which argued that the corrosive effect of the collapse of both Stalinism and reformism on the working class meant that "for the time being at least, the working class has no political existence".Frank Furedi (as Frank Richards). "Midnight in the Century", Living Marxism, December 1990 This signalled a re-orientation of the party towards more libertarian positions, its formal dissolution by the end of the decade, and the founding of the web site Spiked Online with which Furedi is now associated.{{cn|date=December 2022}}

Academic career

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 and low expectations. Furedi is author of several books on this topic, most recently Wasted: Why Education Isn't Educating (Continuum 2009) and Invitation to Terror: The Expanding Empire of the Unknown (Continuum 2007), an analysis of the impact of terrorism post 9/11. His more recent publications, On Tolerance: A Defence of Moral Independence (Continuum 2011) and Authority: A Sociological Introduction (Cambridge University Press) deal with the inter-related problem of freedom and authority.

He was, according to research from 2005,{{cite web|title=Media Coverage of Sociology |url=http://www.socresonline.org.uk/10/3/gaber.html |first=Annaliza |last=Gaber |date=30 September 2005 |website=www.socresonline.org.uk}} the most widely cited sociologist in the UK press. Furedi frequently appears in the media, expressing his view that Western societies have become obsessed with risk. He writes regularly for Spiked. 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.

Notable PhD students he has supervised include Munira Mirza.{{cite web|first=Martin |last=Fletcher |author-link=Martin Fletcher |date=30 September 2020 |title=Munira Mirza: the former radical leftist advising Boris Johnson |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/long-reads/2020/09/munira-mirza-adviser-boris-johnson-aide-former-radical-leftist |publisher=New Statesman |quote="After earning a first from Oxford Mirza studied for a PhD in sociology under Furedi’s supervision at Kent."}}{{cite journal|first=Morgan |last=Jones |year=2022 |title=Culture war 'Marxism': The Revolutionary Communist Party diaspora and the Conservative Party |journal=Renewal |url=https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/renewal/vol-30-issue-2/article-9558/ |volume=30 |number=2 |pages=65–73}}{{rp|66}}

In November 2021, Furedi assumed the post of director of the MCC Brussels centre, an offshoot of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium funded by the ruling Hungarian Fidesz party,{{Cite web |last=Preussen |first=Wilhelmine |date=2022-11-01 |title=Viktor Orbán-funded think tank vows to shake up Brussels |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-hungary-funded-think-tank-set-to-launch-in-brussels/ |website=Politico Europe |language=en-US}} citing the need for an alternative to mainstream pro-European think-tanks.{{Cite web|title=Brussels needs a Hungarian think tank |author=Frank Furedi |date=2022-11-01 |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-hungary-brussels-needs-a-hungarian-think-tank-democracy-eu-mcc/ |website=Politico Europe |language=en-US}}

In May 2023, Furedi spoke at the National Conservatism Conference in London on the topic "The War Against National Belonging".{{Cite web |title=Frank Furedi |url=https://nationalconservatism.org/natcon-uk-2023/presenters/frank-furedi/ |website=National Conservatism Conference, UK 2023 |language=en}}

Views

In the 1990s he was actively involved in humanist-focused issues, especially campaigns for free speech.{{cn|date=December 2022}} 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. Furedi also attacks the scientific consensus on global warming,{{cite web|title=In 2008, let us challenge the Politics of Apocalypse |author=Frank Furedi |date=2007-12-27 |url=http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/4216#.V6eEc0WeTIU |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807185639/http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/4216#.V6eEc0WeTIU |archive-date=2016-08-07 |magazine=Spiked}} and has criticised the prominent role played by science in policy formation.{{cite web|title=The tyranny of science |author=Frank Furedi |date=2008-01-15 |url=http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/4275#.V-rmhEWeTIU |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927213659/http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/4275#.V-rmhEWeTIU |archive-date=2016-09-27 |magazine=Spiked}}{{primary inline|date=December 2022}}

In 2008 he criticised opponents of American vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the Spiked website.{{cite web|title=Turning Sarah Palin into a twenty-first century witch |url=https://www.spiked-online.com/2008/09/08/turning-sarah-palin-into-a-twenty-first-century-witch/ |author=Frank Furedi |publisher=Spiked Online |date=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."{{primary inline|date=December 2022}}

In 2008 he co-authored a book with Jennie Bristow published by the think tank Civitas titled Licensed to Hug: How Child Protection Policies Are Poisoning the Relationship Between the Generations and Damaging the Voluntary Sector, arguing that the growth of police vetting (see Criminal Records Bureau) has created a sense of mistrust and advocating a more common-sense approach to adult/child relations, based on the assumption that the vast majority of adults can be relied on to help and support children, and that the healthy interaction between generations enriches children's lives.{{cn|date=December 2022}}

Reception

= Praise =

The philosopher Mary Warnock wrote in 2011 that Furedi is "to be respected in the strongest sense, indeed greatly admired" for his exposure of hypocrisy and intolerance in contemporary culture.[http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/417562.article "Review: On Tolerance: A War of Moral Independence], Times Higher Education, 29 September 2011 {{subscription required}}

In reviewing Furedi's Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone? for The Times in 2004, the traditional conservative philosopher and writer Roger Scruton said:{{Quote|text=For Furedi the growing contempt for objective truth and transmissible knowledge is the sign of a deeper malaise within society – a loss of trust in rational thought and a flight towards "social inclusion", where this means, in effect, mob rule. The philistinism of educational theory, the take-over of the humanities by the "postmodern" charlatans, the loss of respect for science, and the growing tendency to put "relevance" at the heart of the curriculum – all these are signs, for Furedi, of a fundamental repudiation of knowledge. And this explains the vanishing of the intellectuals.{{Cite news|last=Scruton |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Scruton |date=4 September 2004 |title=Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone? |newspaper=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/where-have-all-the-intellectuals-gone-by-frank-furedi-rggmw9kk5pp}}}}

= Criticism =

Critics of Furedi are drawn from a wide spectrum of left and progressive opinion who criticise as cultish and reactionary the organizations in which he has been a leading figure. Furedi's views on race have been described as a "colourblind racism".{{cite web|title=Spiked{{'}}s colorblind racism |url=https://longviewoneducation.org/spkeds-colourblind-racism/ |website=longviewoneducation.org |author=Benjamin Doxtdator |date=30 July 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230708120437/https://longviewoneducation.org/spkeds-colourblind-racism/ |archive-date=8 July 2023}} George Monbiot has accused Furedi of overseeing extreme right-wing libertarian campaigns "against gun control, against banning tobacco advertising and child pornography, and in favour of global warming, human cloning and freedom for corporations". Monbiot has also accused him of leading entryism of ex-RCPers into "key roles in the formal infrastructure of public communication used by the science and medical establishment", to pursue an agenda in favour of genetic engineering.[http://www.monbiot.com/2003/12/09/invasion-of-the-entryists/ "Invasion of the entryists"], The Guardian, 9 December 2003 The journalist Nick Cohen has described the RCP as a "weird cult"{{cite web|title=Nick Cohen vs the Institute of Ideas |url=http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2007/01/nick-cohen-vs-institute-of-ideas.html |publisher=New Humanist |date=30 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327013116/http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2007/01/nick-cohen-vs-institute-of-ideas.html |archive-date=27 March 2018}} whose Leninist discipline, disruptive behaviour and selfish publicity-seeking have remained unaltered during the various tactical shifts in the face it presents to the wider world.[http://standpointmag.co.uk/television-wireless-july-10-long-march-to-microphone-nick-cohen-radio-4-moral-maze "Wireless: Long March to the Microphone"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023055143/http://standpointmag.co.uk/television-wireless-july-10-long-march-to-microphone-nick-cohen-radio-4-moral-maze |date=23 October 2013 }}, Standpoint, July/August 2010

Personal life

Furedi is married to Ann Furedi.{{rp|71}} He lives in Faversham, Kent.https://www.kentonline.co.uk/faversham/news/i-havent-got-time-to-run-a-cult-the-former-revolutionar-317903/

Bibliography

The Soviet Union Demystified: A Materialist Analysis, Junius Publications, 1986, {{ISBN|0948392037}}
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, {{ISBN|030433751X}}. 2nd edition: 2002, {{ISBN|0826459293}}
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, {{ISBN|0826487289}}
Invitation to Terror: The Expanding Empire of the Unknown, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2007, {{ISBN|0826499570}}
Licensed to Hug: How Child Protection Policies Are Poisoning the Relationship Between the Generations and Damaging the Voluntary Sector with Jennie Bristow, Civitas, 2008, {{ISBN|1903386705}}. 2nd Revised edition: 2010, {{ISBN|1906837163|978-1-903386-70-5}}
Wasted: Why Education Isn't Educating, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2009
On Tolerance: The Life Style Wars: A Defence of Moral Independence, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2011, {{ISBN|1441120106}}
Authority: A Sociological Introduction, Cambridge University Press, 2013
Moral Crusades in an Age of Mistrust: The Jimmy Savile Scandal, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, {{ISBN|1137338016}}
First World War: Still No End in Sight, Bloomsbury USA, 2014, {{ISBN|1441125108}}
Power of Reading: From Socrates to Twitter, Bloomsbury, 2015, {{ISBN|1472914775}}
Populism and the European Culture Wars: The Conflict of Values between Hungary and the EU, Routledge, 2017, {{ISBN|1138097438}}
How Fear Works: Culture of Fear in the Twenty-First Century, Bloomsbury, 2018, {{ISBN|9781472972897}}
Why Borders Matter: Why Humanity Must Relearn the Art of Drawing Boundaries, Routledge, 2020, {{ISBN|0367416824}}
100 Years of Identity Crisis: Culture War Over Socialisation, de Gruyter, 2021, {{ISBN|9783110708936}}
The War Against the Past: Why The West Must Fight For Its History., Polity Press, 2024 {{ISBN|9781509561254}}