Exam revision.

MORAL PANIC

First coined by Jock Young (1971) in Cohen’s ‘Images of Deviance’ (1972)

Analytic descriptive concept used to define a deviant group or event in a particular segment of society – characterized by a heightened sense of panic and exaggerated threat –

quick in emergence and subsidence.

DEFINITION

Cohen, Lemert and Becker studied how power officials were able to give and take power to certain groups in

society.

Cohen researched group behaviour as part of post grad and witnessed the Mods and Rocker phenomenon

Observed how the groups were stereotyped by the media and thus acted out accordingly

Stated that the media were the actors whom conveyed the panic and the public accepted and ran with it.

Cohen identified 5 central factors which conveyed a MP

BRIEF HISTORY

Media – emphasised and stereotyped group

Public – Exaggerated sense of threat and hostility towards perceived group

Law Enforcement – Broadened and enforced by implementing laws

Political Officials – Take side of moral high route to win public opinion

Action Groups – fight against perceived threat for good of ‘repressed’ victims.

Cohen described a MP as a group response to threat

He stated that this is not unusual

Society is known to periodically witness and experience MP

Reflective of societal norms and values

Useful for researchers to understand important morals in society at any given time

Said to have given most descriptive analysis of MP by various researchers

Compared MP to collective behaviour in that rumour mongering, fear and exaggerated sense of threat occur

Also compared MP to national disasters

GOODE AND BEN YEHUDA (1994)

Both go through same phases H/E National disaster does not contain folk devils

Impact phase – event occurs

Damage Assessment – media state damage

Survivor recovery – victims ‘saved’

Remedy plans – law enforcement

Recovery phase – Action

NATIONAL DISASTER COMPARISONGOODE & BEN-YEHUDA (1994)

Identified factors which occurred during MP

Hostility – general grievance against group

Volatility – sudden eruption of events

Consensus – public generally in agreement over ‘folk devils’

Heightened sense of threat – exaggerated fears

Disproportionality – numbers stated by media at higher rate than actual occurrence

GOODE AND BEN-YEHUDA (1994) CONT

Disproportionality is said to be the most significant factor in any MP

Many individuals experience heightened fear, threat etc. due to the disproportionate levels stated

However criticised by theorists as we don’t know if views were proportionate pre or post MP

Moral Panic situations are relatively short lived however some of them actually never truly die out

Single mothers, immigration, benefit cheats

Moral panics said to thus give power to officials and higher in society. (Hall 1978)

MP can centre around serious or trivial events

Serious; Terrorism, immigration, HIV

Trivial; Black mugger, comic book violence

MORAL PANIC

Swine Flu

Interprets MP from a Marxist perspective

States that MP are simply a way of the powerful elite to divert attention from a crisis in capitalism

Those with power use MP in order to repress the weak in society

Black Mugging was an example of this

Crisis taken away from Britain in economic recession

Attention placed on immigration and crime laws

STUART HALL (1978)

Intro the notion that power lies with those who are able to describe and define a situation

Labelling will result in the group acting and behaving differently due to self fulfilling prophecy

Suggests that deviance is not natural - constructed by those who hold power

LEMERT (1956)

Examined the key dynamics of the labelling process

Stated that the process is simply to justify the control and exclusion of vulnerable groups in society

BECKER (1968)

Goffman stated that Stigma serves to show the impact that MP creates

Power is gained over the weak by producing certain stigmatizing labels

Public thus view those individuals in different light

Treated differently and thus act differently.

STIGMA

1950’S US fear violence in Comic books aimed at children – resulted in mass clean outs and burnings of comics in

question

1960’S British Mods and Rockers – blown out of proportion and actually caused more riots due to labelling theory

1970’S Black Mugger – see Stuart Hall (1978)

1980’S Baby boom

1990’S drug and rave/rap culture

2000’s Terrorism

2010 – Obesity – childhood

EXAMPLES

MMR vaccine and Autism link

Childhood violence and video games

Gun and Knife crime

Millennium bug

Internet technology

Exercise and heart disease

Smoking

Iraq and WMD

Cervical cancer (Jade Goody)

MRSA

Britain’s Debt crisis

Pornography

IVF designer babies

OTHER GENERAL EXAMPLES

‘Call of Duty’

Does the term constitute official sociological category – no methodology or empirical evidence

Groups/deviants looked at as victims

Emphasis taken away from actual victims

Overstate power of the media

Underestimate power of excluded groups to re-label – Gay men.

CRITICISMS OF MP

Cohen, Becker, Lemert et al all give descriptions and analysis re MP

State that the media’s sole purpose is to create MP in order to control society

Use own views and emphasize significance in order to pass agenda outwith politics

Criticised – Do we emulate the media or does the media emulate our views and morals?

SUMMARY