moral panic

Lesson objectives

one Understand the concept of moral panic

two Identify when moral panic occurs

in the media

three Understand the process of how moral

panic unfolds

moral panic The intensity of feeling expressed in a population that appears to threaten the

social order.

role of the media The media operate as agents of moral imagination, either by

actively crusading, or simply

framing news stories in

dramatic ways that will appeal to consumers.

Stanley cohen (1975)

Folk Devils and Moral Panics

Stanley cohen claimed that a

moral panic occurs when condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to

societal values and interests.

Those who start the panic

when they fear a threat to

prevailing social or cultural

values are known as moral entrepreneurs.

Those who supposedly

threaten the social order

have been described as folk devils.

cohen’s study was

primarily about the mods and the rockers of the

1960s and the treatment they received in the public eye.

The main criticism was that

they were seen as a threat to law and order largely through the

way the mass media represented them, in the form of

what Cohen calls the control culture.

Largely this refers to the media

sensationalising an event and

then calling for a punishment to be set to persecute the offenders.

mods, rockers and moral panics

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characteristics of

a moral panic

concern There must be awareness that

the behaviour of the group or

category in question is likely to

have a negative impact on

society.

hostility Hostility towards the group in question increases, and they

become folk devils. Clear

distinctions are drawn

between us and them.

consensus Widespread acceptance emerges that the group in question poses a very real

threat to society.

disproportion The action taken is

disproportionate to the

actual threat posed by the group.

volatility Moral Panics tend to

disappear as quickly as they

appeared, due to a wane in public interest or news reports changing to another topic.

The objects of moral panic belong to seven clusters of

social identity:

1. !

!

young, working-class, violent males

2. !

!

school violence: bullying and shootouts

3. !

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wrong drugs: used by wrong people at wrong places

4. !

!

child abuse, satanic rituals and paedophile registers

5. !

!

sex, violence and blaming the media

6. !

!

welfare cheats and single mothers

7. !

!

refugees and asylum seekers

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