deviancy amplification

wilkins

• theory originally developed by wilkins in his book social deviance

• the theory seeks to understand the role of the media in strengthening and magnifying deviance in society

• media response to deviant behaviour as a result, makes more people actually engage in the deviant behaviour

• deviancy amplification leads to moral panic

• moral panics involve identification of a deviant groups (folk devils) who are blamed for causing the threat

cohen-

• popularised the term ‘moral panic’ in his study of the medias response to youth deviance

• using interactionist methodology, Cohen observed seaside fights between two youth subcultures , the mods and the rockers and he examined the media's response to the event

• he argued that the media labelled the mods and rockers in a negative and stereotyped way as a result, the came to be seen as folk devils

• Cohen highlighted the role of the media in defining the situation and argued that they had created a great exaggerated picture of the conflict between the mods and the rockers

• a result of the panic over the situation of mods and rockers was the reinforcement of regular police forces with soldiers as though the issue was as serious as an invasion by a foreign power and yet a short time later these social groups were more or less forgotten about

• they were remembered as examples of folk devils but people didn’t worry about them in the same way

• Cohens view is that the earlier reaction was the result of media-created hype

cohen 2

• cohe

  • the media created more deviance

  • using the concept of deviancy amplification spiral , he identified the stages of development of a moral panic :

  • firstly the media uses a sensational sterotypical and exaggerated language to write stories and headlines about a particular event or group

  • this results in public anxiety , which is fuelled by influential commentators like bishops and politicians

  • this puts pressure on the authorities to intervene and can lead , for example, to greater police involvement

  • this increased social awareness of the problem can also lead to more people participating in the activity

more recent examples of moral panics

• murders such as killings of James bulger and Steven Lawrence

• the death of teenager Leah Betts from ecstasy

• welfare cheats and single mothers

• refugees and asylum seekers

• the role of violence in the media

Goode and ben Yehuda

• they rejected Cohens view that a moral panic goes through a series of stages that have a beginning middle and end

• they describe five elements present in a moral panic :

• concern-heightened public concern towards threat

• hostility-an increased hostility in the media towards particular group

• consensus- influential people known as moral entrepreneurs lead campaign against the group that leads to general agreement about their behaviour

• disproportionality- the reaction is out of proportion to the harm caused by the group

• volatility- moral panics come and go quickly as interests move onto another issue

furedi

• argues that moral panics arise when society fails to adapt to dramatic social changes and it is felt that there is a loss of control especially over powerless groups such as the young

• argues that moral panics reflect wider concerns that the older generation hold about the nature of society

• she argues that people have a sense of loss which makes them susceptible to the anxieties promoted by moral panics

• they see themselves and their families at a greater risk from a variety of groups and that things are out of control

• with the medias encouragement, traditional norms and values are losing relevance in our lives.

McRobbie

• the effect of moral panic has changed ‘ to the extent that the panics are no longer about social control but rather the fear of being out of control’

• she argues against the view that there is a clear distinction between the world of media and the world of reality

• she argues that we do not exist in a social unreality when we watch tv or read the newspapers, nor do we get transported back to reality when we switch it off

• she argues that in our post-modern condition, we are more likely to see all representations as simply that- representations-with none being more right than any other

• she suggests that any sociologist who argue for an account of reality that is not sensationalised and exaggerate are themselves speaking from an account of reality that is partial and selective