Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the WorstUniversity of Chicago Press, 15.9.2008 - 336 sivua People—especially Americans—are by and large optimists. They're much better at imagining best-case scenarios (I could win the lottery!) than worst-case scenarios (A hurricane could destroy my neighborhood!). This is true not just of their approach to imagining the future, but of their memories as well: people are better able to describe the best moments of their lives than they are the worst. “In Never Saw It Coming, Karen Cerulo argues that in American society there is a ‘positive symmetry,’ a tendency to focus on and exaggerate the best, the winner, the most optimistic outcome and outlook. Thus, the conceptions of the worst are underdeveloped and elided. Naturally, as she masterfully outlines, there are dramatic consequences to this characterological inability to imagine and prepare for the worst, as the failure to heed memos leading up to both the 9/11 and NASA Challenger disasters, for instance, so painfully reminded us.”--Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Swarthmore College “Katrina, 9/11, and the War in Iraq—all demonstrate the costliness of failing to anticipate worst-case scenarios. Never Saw It Coming explains why it is so hard to do so: adaptive behavior hard-wired into human cognition is complemented and reinforced by cultural practices, which are in turn institutionalized in the rules and structures of formal organizations. But Karen Cerulo doesn’t just diagnose the problem; she uses case studies of settings in which people effectively anticipate and deal with potential disaster to describe structural solutions to the chronic dilemmas she describes so well. Never Saw It Coming is a powerful contribution to the emerging fields of cognitive and moral sociology.”--Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University |
Kirjan sisältä
Tulokset 1 - 5 kokonaismäärästä 80
... benchmark . It appears that the trained eye is not protected from perceptual bias . Indeed , even among agencies designed to anticipate and combat disaster , en- visioning the worst often proves an elusive task . The 4 CHAPTER ONE.
... disaster that occurred ” ( emphasis added ) . My personal health crisis , my students ' ruminations of the future ... disasters , or when schoolteachers and offi- cials fail to foresee the very worst reactions of troubled students . 15 ...
... disaster must first be centered in a community's per- ceptual porthole. Thus, in most cases—particularly those involving collec- tive sentiment—I suggest that emotions do not provoke perception, but rather, link perception to action.41 ...
... disaster. The INS, for example, failed to stop hijacker Mohamed Atta from entering the United States despite the fact that he had known ties to terrorists and was using an expired visa. Similarly, the FAA, neglecting its own warnings ...
... disaster. Consider, for example, Linda, one of the subjects in the study. As she discusses her expec- tations for the future, note the detail and assuredness with which she de- scribes a joyful life ahead: I want to begin to think of ...
Sisältö
1 | |
17 | |
3 Practicing Positive Asymmetry | 72 |
4 Positive Asymmetry and the Subjective Side of Scientific Measurement | 122 |
5 Being Labeled the Worst Real in Its Consequences? | 139 |
6 Exceptions to the Rule | 164 |
7 Emancipating Structures and Cognitive Styles | 193 |
8 Can Symmetrical Vision Be Achieved? | 233 |
Acknowledgments | 344 |
1 Whats the Worst That Could Happen? | 1 |
2 The Breadth and Scope of Positive Asymmetry | 17 |
3 Practicing Positive Asymmetry | 72 |
4 Positive Asymmetry and the Subjective Side of Scientific Measurement | 122 |
5 Being Labeled the Worst Real in Its Consequences? | 139 |
6 Exceptions to the Rule | 164 |
7 Emancipating Structures and Cognitive Styles | 193 |
Notes | 245 |
References | 279 |
Index | 315 |
Contents | 342 |
8 Can Symmetrical Vision Be Achieved? | 233 |
Notes | 245 |
References | 279 |
Index | 315 |
Muita painoksia - Näytä kaikki
Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst Karen A. Cerulo Rajoitettu esikatselu - 2008 |
Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst Karen A. Cerulo Esikatselu ei käytettävissä - 2006 |
Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst Karen A. Cerulo Esikatselu ei käytettävissä - 2006 |