A Nation of Meddlers

by Edgley, Charles; Brissett, Dennis

• ISBN13: 9780813333076
• ISBN10: 0813333075
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-02-01
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

We have become a nation of informers and professional meddlers. From social action and "concerned" citizen groups to psychiatrists and government bureaucrats, there is always someone watching. This book gets to the heart of America's most visible obsession.

Author Biography

Charles Edgley is professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University. Dennis Brissett (deceased) was professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the University of Minnesota at Duluth. Charles Edgley is professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University. Dennis Brissett (deceased) was professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the University of Minnesota at Duluth.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	xii
America: A Nation of Meddlers	1	(20)
Meddling Transformed: The Euphemisms of Meddling	3	(1)
Toward a Definition of Meddling	4	(2)
The Circumstances of Meddling	6	(3)
Meddlers as Peddlers of Anti-Themes	9	(1)
Meddling as Both Avocation and Vocation	10	(4)
The Cultural Context of Meddling	14	(5)
Notes	19	(2)
The Roots of Meddling	21	(38)
The Increasing Prevalence of Meddling: A Short History	24	(14)
The Scientific/Therapeutic Ethic of Expertise	38	(13)
The Search for Individual Transcendence	51	(5)
Notes	56	(3)
Running Scared: The Appeal and Acceptance of Meddling	59	(38)
The Institutionalization of Confusion	59	(1)
Exaggerated Claims and the Promotion of Anxiety	60	(5)
The Decline in the Prestige and Durability of Family and Intimate Relationships	65	(1)
The Promissory Appeal of Meddling	66	(23)
Why People Meddle	89	(3)
Why People Allow Themselves to Be Meddled With	92	(2)
Notes	94	(3)
The Ideologies of Meddling	97	(40)
Meddling in the Name of Health	100	(3)
The Quest for the Perfect Body	103	(2)
``Pure as Well as Perfect'': The Puritan Underpinnings of Health and Fitness	105	(3)
Health Fascism	108	(1)
Blaming the Victim	109	(1)
Demonizing Smokers	110	(2)
Elevating a Nuisance to a National Crisis: The Meddling Career of Secondhand Smoke	112	(6)
Fat: The Next Meddling Crusade	118	(3)
The Hermetic-Seal Conception of Life: Guarding Against Negative Experience	121	(2)
Meddling in the Name of Safety	123	(4)
``For the Sake of the Children,''	127	(3)
In the Name of God	130	(1)
Anxiety, Guilt, and Shame: New Uses	131	(1)
Notes	132	(5)
Types of Meddlers	137	(42)
A Caveat	138	(1)
Motives for Meddling	138	(1)
Amateur Meddlers	139	(23)
Professional Meddlers	162	(15)
Notes	177	(2)
Marketing Meddling	179	(26)
Selling the Meddling Impulse	179	(3)
Reaching the Public	182	(3)
Solutions for Pandora's Box	185	(2)
Perfection for Sale: Minds, Bodies, Selves, and Souls	187	(3)
The Selling of Dependency on Experts	190	(1)
The Packaging and Distribution of the Therapeutic	191	(3)
Marketing Self-Help	194	(5)
Informal Help Talk	199	(2)
Notes	201	(4)
Meddling and the Social Bond	205	(32)
Proper Distinctions	205	(2)
Individual Liberty and Social Constraint	207	(3)
Paternalism and the Good Society	210	(4)
Liberalism and Conservatism	214	(3)
Persons and Communities	217	(2)
The Philosophy of ``Anti'' and the Good Society	219	(5)
Human Rights at the Cost of the Joy of Social Obligations	224	(1)
Integrity	225	(2)
Meddling and Greed: Toting and Touting	227	(3)
When Is Meddling Necessary?	230	(3)
Humility and the Common Good	233	(1)
Notes	234	(3)
Conclusion: Toward A Less Meddlesome Society	237	(14)
The Social Psychology of Helping	237	(3)
The Wages of Virtue and the Place of Pleasure	240	(3)
Caring Without Meddling: The Gift of Sociability	243	(2)
Toward a Less Meddlesome Society	245	(4)
Notes	249	(2)
References	251	(14)
Index	265