Ari Adut, On Scandal: Moral Disturbances in Society, Politics and Art (Book Review‪)‬

ARI ADUT, On Scandal: Moral Disturbances in Society, Politics and Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008, 356 p., index. How often do we look at a news item, shake our heads and say "it's really scandalous!"? By this, we imply that some event, by commission or omission, offends our sense of the right moral order. This sense, so argues Adut, may be stimulated by what would, according to the "objectivist view," be widely considered "real misconduct"--pedophilia would be a significant case in point--or, to take the "constructionist view," it may be manipulated by the media or other interest groups to create "... celebrity scandals, a genre specializing in the trivial trespasses of famous people, suspected of being little more than publicity stunts" (p. 10).