Hysteria: Crime, Media, and Politics

Session Submission Type: Author meets critics

Abstract

The DSM, the bible of psychiatry, advises not to fear hysteria, since it does not exist. But while psychologists and physicians claim that hysteria is a thing of the past, an outdated diagnosis that has disappeared for good, this book argues that it is in fact alive and well. Hyperventilating, we rush from one incident into the next – there is hardly time for a breather. The debate on crime or immigration comes to a head at the slightest provocation. Irritating though this may be, hysteria needs to be taken seriously, for what it tells us about our society and way of life.

Subtopic

• Topic 5: Social Control and Criminal Justice / Penology and Theories Punishment

Critics

• Matt Bowden, TU Dublin

• Jenni Robyn Ward, Middlesex University

• David Churchill, Leeds University

Book Author

• Marc Schuilenburg, Professor Digital Surveillance Erasmus University Rotterdam