Frank Furedi (; born 3 May 1947) is a

Hungarian-Canadian Hungarian Canadians (, ) are persons in Canada of Hungarian ancestry. According to the 2016 Census, there are 348,085 Canadians of Hungarian ancestry. The Hungarian minority is the 24th largest ethnic group of Canada. The bulk of Hungarian im ...

academic and

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

professor of

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

. He is well known for his work on sociology of fear, education, therapy culture,

sociology of knowledge The sociology of knowledge is the study of the relationship between human thought, the social context within which it arises, and the effects that prevailing ideas have on societies. It is not a specialized area of sociology. Instead, it deals w ...

, and what he calls "paranoid parenting".

Early life and education

Furedi's family emigrated from Hungary to Canada after the failed 1956 uprising, and he completed a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in international relations at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

. He has lived in Britain since 1969. He completed an MA in African politics at the

School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

,Curriculum Vitae
, University of Kent website and received a PhD from the

in 1987 with a thesis on the

Mau Mau Uprising The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt, or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the ...

in Kenya.

Revolutionary Communist Party and offshoots

A former student radical, he became involved in left-wing politics in Britain in the 1970s, in particular, as a member of the International Socialists (IS), under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Frank Richards. He and others were expelled from the IS in 1973 and formed the Revolutionary Communist Group, then in 1976, he and his followers were expelled from this group and formed the Revolutionary Communist Tendency, refounded in 1978 as the Revolutionary Communist Party. The RCP was distinguished by its

contrarianism {{Short pages monitor