In your analysis, discuss the theories and the examples in all three essays, and test the theories by applying them to other authors’ examples. (This is similar to how Strauss applies Pyszcynski’s ideas to Jen Senko’s father.) For example, can Terror Management Theory and psychology and neurology be used to explain the rise of Nazism before World War II? And, can Neumann’s ideas or the neurology and psychology reported on by Strauss help to reveal something about the American reaction to the 9/11 attacks?
Your essay must explicitly use and refer to all three essays in the reading set.
In developing your argument, incorporate ideas that support your position as well as ideas that disagree with your position. Your essay must quote and/or paraphrase and work directly with material from all the readings in this reading set. In addition, define and employ key terms that seem to be central to the arguments of your sources and, therefore, to your argument as well. Primary among these key terms are fear and anxiety. For additional key terms, see the glossary of terms at the end of the reading set.
You must attribute any material that you summarize, quote, or paraphrase to its source (using the page numbers of the reading set for quotations and paraphrases). Your own ideas and thinking are necessary and important. However, you should base your essay on the information contained in the set of readings, not on your own life experience, on outside readings (including the internet), or on courses you have taken.
Table of Contents
1. Neumann, Franz L. “Anxiety and Politics.” TripleC. 15(2): 612-636, 2017. First published in The Democratic and the Authoritarian State: Essays in Political and Legal Theory, by Franz Neumann; edited and with a preface by Herbert Marcuse. New York: Free Press, 1957; republished 1964. First delivered as a lecture in 1954, titled “Angst und Politik” when Neumann was awarded an honorary degree at the Free University, Berlin.
2. Pyszczynski, Tom. “What Are We So Afraid Of? A Terror Management Theory Perspective on the Politics of Fear.” Social Research, Vol. 71, No. 4, Fear: Its Political Uses & Abuses (Winter 2004), pp. 827-848. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
3. Strauss, Neil. “Why We’re Living in the Age of Fear.” Rolling Stone, October 6, 2016. Web. An alphabetical glossary of terms appears at the end of the reading set.
It is essential that you include in your essay specific references to all the required essays. You must attribute any material that you summarize, quote, or paraphrase to its source (using the page numbers of the reading set for quotations and paraphrases). Your own ideas and thinking are necessary and important. However, you should base your essay on the information contained in the set of readings, not on your own life experience, on outside readings (including the internet), or on courses you have taken.
