Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the WorstUniversity of Chicago Press, 15 sep. 2008 - 336 sidor 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 |
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... Americans say that they are “ very happy , ” and an additional 33 percent say that they are “ pretty happy ” ? 20 ... percent of American teens believe that they will stay married to the same person for life and 85 percent feel that they ...
... American parenting . A full 61 percent of respondents said that today's par- ents are doing a poor or merely fair job of raising children . And 53 percent , more than half the respondents , said that today's parents were doing a worse ...
... American male worker enjoyed a 50 percent income increase over the course of ... America is fast shrinking . Current figures on intergenerational elasticity and ... percent of the survey's respondents believe that their children will fair ...
... American Academy of Pediatricians , a sex- ually active teen who fails to consider the worst and thus refrains from active contraception “ has a 90 percent chance of pregnancy within one year . ' 1140 Becoming pregnant certainly ...
... percent ) at- tempt to “ spin ” the numbers.52 For example , the Web site of the American Academy of Physicians downplays the test's dangers by underscoring its rou- tine nature : The baby Amniocentesis and CVS carry a small risk of ...
Innehåll
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 |
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Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst Karen A. Cerulo Begränsad förhandsgranskning - 2008 |
Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst Karen A. Cerulo Ingen förhandsgranskning - 2006 |
Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst Karen A. Cerulo Ingen förhandsgranskning - 2006 |