Once parents encouraged their children to travel to school on their own. Now they are more likely to be worried for their safety. From trigger warnings to stringent health and safety regulations, from ever tighter oversight of school safeguarding to the introduction of urban 20mph speed limits, we live in a culture that puts safety first and seeks to avoid all risk. Yet critics claim this safety culture is itself dangerous, limiting experience and introducing fear into everyone's lives. They argue mental ill health and high levels of anxiety in the young are in part due to a risk averse culture. In a recent uk survey, 62% of parents acknowledged they are overprotective.
Do we need to reverse the culture of safety to enable lives to flourish? Is a generation of risk averse teachers and parents damaging the lives of the next generation? Or is a focus on safety a sign of an enlightened age that places care and compassion at the heart of our culture?
Sociologist and social commentator Frank Furedi, leading feminist Carol Gilligan and behavioural scientist Paul Dolan discuss the potential pitfalls of our modern culture's emphasis on safety and risk aversion. Isabel Hilton hosts.