A Nation of Meddlers

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.

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.

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

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Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials