Barry Glassner

Who is Barry Glassner?

Barry Glassner is the president of Lewis & Clark College and was formerly professor of sociology and executive vice provost at the University of Southern California, which honored him in 2002 with its highest research award. He has received a Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award, a visiting fellowship at Oxford University and "best book" designations from the Los Angeles Times book review, CHOICE magazine and Knight Ridder newspapers. His research specialties include cultural sociology, qualitative methods and media studies.

Glassner has authored or co-authored nine books, including The Culture of Fear, which discussed the culture of fear phenomenon. He says that many of Americans' concerns and fears are largely unfounded. An updated and enlarged tenth anniversary edition of The Culture of Fear was published by Basic Books in 2010. In it, Glassner decries: "The use of poignant anecdotes in place of scientific evidence, the christening of isolated incidents as trends, depictions of entire categories of people as innately dangerous ... "

Glassner's scholarly articles have been published in journals including the American Sociological Review, Social Problems, American Journal of Psychiatry, and Journal of Health and Social Behavior. Glassner argues in The Gospel of Food that much of what Americans read and hear about food is inaccurate and unhelpful. He discussed this topic in depth in his interview on the Skeptics' Guide podcast. Michael Moore interviewed him in the film Bowling for Columbine. Some statistics cited by Moore and a story about President George W. Bush mentioned in the film are from Glassner's writings.