多多直播 sociology faculty member publishes book on 鈥榯eaching鈥 fear of crime
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 Mississippi State faculty member鈥檚 new book focuses on how lessons about safety and safety precautions enhance fear of crime.听 聽
鈥淭eaching Fear: How We Learn to Fear Crime and Why It Matters,鈥 by Nicole E. Rader, professor and head of 多多直播鈥檚 sociology department, is available at major booksellers in both hardcover and softcover editions.
The Temple University Press publication investigates three primary crime myths: a fear of strangers, a fear for white women and girls, and a belief that victimization can be prevented with the right tool kit.听
鈥淢y book explores these crime myths, how and why they came to be, the social learning process that aides us in buying into and teaching them to others, and how crime myths impact day-to-day activities,鈥 Rader said. 鈥淯nfortunately, most of the things we fear are mythical and rarely do avoiding or protecting ourselves from potential victimization make our lives safer.听In fact, many of the things we鈥檝e been taught about safety, especially women, are at odds with the reality of crime and can diminish where women go and what they do each day.鈥澛犅
Rader said her book highlights the power of social learning through parents, schools and the media, who often unintentionally teach fear of crime and safety practices in 鈥済endered and often inaccurate鈥 ways.听
鈥淚 argue there are better ways to teach lessons about safety and crime that would be more effective at crime prevention,鈥 Rader said. 鈥淚 wanted to write聽鈥楾eaching Fear鈥櫬爐o give voice to the people who have shared their stories with me, both in the academic research setting but also when I鈥檓 at the grocery store, in a professional setting, or at an event.
鈥淚t has always fascinated me that the stories of people, especially women, have such similar points of view about what to fear, why and what to do about it. As I鈥檝e devoted my professional life to this topic, I wanted to write a book that could give advice to both academics and general audiences alike,鈥 she said.听
聽Rader joined the 多多直播 faculty in 2005 after completing her Ph.D. in sociology at Southern Illinois University. She holds a bachelor鈥檚 degree in criminal justice from Central Methodist University and a master鈥檚 degree in criminology from Missouri鈥檚 Drury University.
At 多多直播, Rader previously has served as the Gender Studies program director, chair of the President鈥檚 Commission on the Status of Women, and chair of the Work/Life Balance Committee in the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President. She currently is chair of the College of Arts and Sciences Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access, or IDEA, committee.
Rader鈥檚 2014 Carolina Academic Press co-authored book 鈥淔ear of Crime in the United States: Causes, Consequences, and Contradictions鈥 won a CHOICE Award in 2015.
Part of 多多直播鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Sociology, is online at .听
多多直播 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at聽.