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Frank Furedi | |
|---|---|
 Furedi in 2007 | |
| Born | Füredi Ferenc (1947-05-03)3 May 1947 (age 78) |
| Other names | Frank Richards |
| Spouse | |
| Academic background | |
| Education | |
| Thesis | The Mau Mau Revolt in Perspective: The Betrayal of a Dream (1987) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Sociology |
| Institutions | University of Kent |
| Notable students | Munira Mirza |
| Website | frankfuredi.com |
Frank Furedi (Hungarian:Füredi Ferenc; born 3 May 1947)[2] is aHungarian-Canadian academic andemeritus professor ofsociology at theUniversity of Kent. He is well known for his work onsociology of fear, education, therapy culture,sociology of knowledge, and what he calls "paranoid parenting".
Furedi's family emigrated from Hungary to Canada after the failed1956 uprising, and he completed abachelor's degree in international relations atMcGill University.[1] He has lived in Britain since 1969. He completed an MA in African politics at theSchool of Oriental and African Studies,[3][non-primary source needed] and received a PhD from theUniversity of Kent in 1987 with a thesis on theMau Mau Uprising in Kenya.[4][5][2]
A former student radical, he became involved in left-wing politics in Britain in the 1970s, in particular, as a member of theInternational Socialists (IS), under thepseudonymFrank Richards. He and others were expelled from the IS in 1973 and formed theRevolutionary Communist Group, then in 1976, he and his followers were expelled from this group and formed the Revolutionary Communist Tendency, refounded in 1978 as theRevolutionary Communist Party.[6]
The RCP was distinguished by itscontrarianism, 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.[6]
In December 1990, the RCP's magazineLiving Marxism ran an article by Furedi, entitled "Midnight in the Century", which argued that the corrosive effect of the collapse of bothStalinism andreformism on theworking class meant that "for the time being at least, the working class has no political existence".[7] This signalled a re-orientation of the party towards morelibertarian positions, its formal dissolution by the end of the decade, and the founding of thewebsiteSpiked Online with which Furedi is now associated.[citation needed]
Furedi's academic work was initially devoted to a study ofimperialism and race relations. His books on the subject includeTheMau Mau War in Perspective,The New Ideology of Imperialism andThe 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 recentlyWasted: Why Education Isn't Educating (Continuum 2009) andInvitation 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) andAuthority: A Sociological Introduction (Cambridge University Press) deal with the inter-related problem of freedom and authority.
He was, according to research from 2005,[8] 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 forSpiked. He has also written several books on the subject of risk, offering a counterpoint to the analyses ofAnthony Giddens andUlrich Beck, includingParanoid Parenting,Therapy Culture, andCulture of Fear.
Notable PhD students he has supervised includeMunira Mirza.[9][10]: 66
In November 2021, Furedi assumed the post of director of the MCC Brussels centre, an offshoot of theMathias Corvinus Collegium funded by the ruling HungarianFidesz party,[11] citing the need for an alternative to mainstream pro-European think-tanks.[12]
In May 2023, Furedi spoke at theNational Conservatism Conference in London on the topic "The War Against National Belonging".[13]
In the 1990s he was actively involved inhumanist-focused issues, especially campaigns forfree speech.[citation needed] 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 onglobal warming,[14] and has criticised the prominent role played by science in policy formation.[15][non-primary source needed]
In 2008 he criticised opponents of American vice presidential candidateSarah Palin on theSpiked website.[16] 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."[non-primary source needed]
In 2008 he co-authored a book with Jennie Bristow published by the think tankCivitas titledLicensed 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 (seeCriminal 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.[citation needed]
The philosopherMary 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.[17]
In reviewing Furedi'sWhere Have All the Intellectuals Gone? forThe Times in 2004, thetraditional conservative philosopher and writerRoger Scruton said:
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.[18]
Critics of Furedi are drawn from a wide spectrum of left and progressive opinion who criticise ascultish and reactionary the organizations in which he has been a leading figure. Furedi's views on race have been described as a "colourblind racism".[19]George Monbiot has accused Furedi of overseeing extremeright-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 leadingentryism 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.[20] The journalistNick Cohen has described the RCP as a "weird cult"[21] whoseLeninist discipline, disruptive behaviour and selfish publicity-seeking have remained unaltered during the various tactical shifts in the face it presents to the wider world.[22]
Furedi is married toAnn Furedi.[10]: 71 He lives inFaversham,Kent.[23]
After earning a first from Oxford Mirza studied for a PhD in sociology under Furedi's supervision at Kent.
