Molotch Against Security

How We Go Wrong at Airports, Subways, and Other Sites of Ambiguous Danger - Updated Edition
Updated Auflage
ISBN: 978-1-4008-5233-8
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 288 Seiten

How security procedures could be positive, safe, and effective

The inspections we put up with at airport gates and the endless warnings we get at train stations, on buses, and all the rest are the way we encounter the vast apparatus of U.S. security. Like the wars fought in its name, these measures are supposed to make us safer in a post-9/11 world. But do they? Against Security explains how these regimes of command-and-control not only annoy and intimidate but are counterproductive. Sociologist Harvey Molotch takes us through the sites, the gizmos, and the politics to urge greater trust in basic citizen capacities—along with smarter design of public spaces. In a new preface, he discusses abatement of panic and what the NSA leaks reveal about the real holes in our security.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Molotch, Harvey

Weitere Mitwirkende

Molotch, Harvey

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gewalt und Diskriminierung: Soziale Aspekte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen Nationale und Internationale Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface to the Paperback Edition ix

Preface xvii

Acknowledgments xxi

Chapter 1 Introduction: Colors of Security 1

Chapter 2 Bare Life: Restroom Anxiety and the Urge for Control 22

Chapter 3 Below the Subway: Taking Care Day In and Day Out with Noah McClain 50

Chapter 4 Wrong-Way Flights: Pushing Humans Away 85

Chapter 5 Forting Up the Skyline: Rebuilding at Ground Zero 128

Chapter 6 Facing Katrina: Illusions of Levee and Compulsion to Build 154

Chapter 7 Conclusion: Radical Ambiguity and the Default to Decency 192

Notes 225

Index 251

Über Autor(innen)

Harvey Molotch is professor of sociology and metropolitan studies at New York University. His other books include the classic Urban Fortunes and the more recent Where Stuff Comes From.