Moral Panics

Where do moral panics emerge from?

Labelling theory (Becker) and Deviancy amplification (Wilkins)

What does Becker (1963) say about deviance and social groups?

That social groups create deviance by making the rules on whose infraction constitutes deviance

What do Wilkins and Young say about social control?

That social control leads to deviance (deviancy amplification spiral)

What was Young's study of 'the drugtakers' in 1971?

An ethnographic study of bohemian counterculture in the 1960s in Notting Hill

What did Young 1971 find?

That people who had previously been known as weed smokers became more dedicated to smoking weed once wider news stories around smoking weed became popular

What did Young conclude from his study?

That the media can very quickly and effectively fan public indignation and engineer what one might call a moral panic about a certain type of deviancy

What is a moral panic?

A condition, episode, person, or group of people that emerge to become defined as a threat to societal values

What is an example of a moral panic?

The Mods and Rockers Conflict (Cohen)

What is needed for something to be considered a moral panic?

A moral issue as well as the involvement of a moral entrepeneur

What did Cohen's processual model of linear threat involve?

1) Warning
2) Threat
3) Impact
4) Inventory
5) Rescue
6) Remedy
7) Recovery

What did Cohen's processual model of circular amplification involve?

1. Warning (1,2)
2. Impact
3. Inventory
4. Reaction (5,6,7) → media and the police

What does Garland (2008) say about moral panics?

That there is a variation between minor transient episodes and other transformative events

How does Garland view the events of a moral panic?

As isolated outbreaks, or episodes building on one-another

What can a moral panic be a conseqeunce of?

The way that it is being reacted to

What does Hall (1978) say about moral panics?

That a moral panic is when the official reaction to a person, groups of people or series of events is out of proportion to the actual threat

What does Hall say about media representations of moral panics?

That they stress sudden and dramatic increases in numbers involved in events

What did Hall argue in relation to the moral panic of muggings?

That the tension cast onto mugging became a way of distracting from wider economic issues creating a moral panic

What is distinctive about Hall's work?

The suggestion that the Government itself can become a source of moral panic, especially when there is an attractive political motive

Does Cohen agree with Hall in regards to moral panics?

No- he says that moral panics have more to do with the media than the Government

What is a folk devil?

The subject/ target of the moral panic, they are seen as being a threat due to the exaggeration of the threat posed by the media

How is the threat of a folk devil created?

1) Stressing novelty, but keeping it simple
2) Exaggeration
3) Prediction- happened before so will happen again

How is public emotion, opinion and attitude shaped in relation to a folk devil?

1) Orientation (natural disaster analogy)- its not so much what happened
2) Causation (a sign of the times)

How is the media a key driver behind a process of symbolisation?

1) A word - symbol of a certain status
2) Objects symbolise the word
3) Objects become symbolic of the status and emotions attached to the status

How does the media present the image of a 'deviant'?

1) Simplistic, general, stereotyping analogy
2) Associate folk devils with particular stylistic choices

What is a moral entrepreneur?

People who seek to influence a group to adopt or maintain a norm

What can moral entrepreneurs be divided into?

1. Rule creators- 'moral crusaders' (campaign to have something criminalised)
2. Rule enforcers, police officers, (those working in the CJS etc)

What are moral panics about?

Moral panics are about morality, they are not something that may cause some kind of fear

What does Young emphasise?

That the folk devil is not random and that moral panic theory involves examining this background dynamic

What are moral panics about in relation to the media?

They are about the way in which the media can misrepresent certain youth crime issues and analysing the consequences of them- how does this impact policy and other generations?

What is Hall's (1978) policing the crisis?

Argument that the 'mugging epidemic' of the early 1970s represented a crisis of state legitimacy

Hall, crisis of state legitimacy

When the Government acts as a primary definer of a problem and the media acts as a secondary definer of a problem

What does the hegemonic model of moral panic involve?

The creation and implementation of law and order agenda

What are the 5 elements in Goode and Ben-Yehouda’s (2009) model of moral panics?

1) Concern
2) Hostility
3) Consensus
4) Disproportionality
5) Volatility

Explanations of moral panics according to Goode and Ben-Yehouda?

1) Elite sources: Power
2) Grassroots sources
3) Meso sources: interest groups

What does Critcher (2009) say about moral panics?

That it is better to think of the spectrum as a moral regulation process with moral panics being an extreme form of a more general process

How does Garland critique moral panics?

states that moral panics assume disproportionality (society overreacting to a problem, how many times does something happen before we stop calling it a moral panic)

How does Young support Garland's critique?

States that the term moral panic has been overused and has transformed moral panics into a technique of neutralisation used to deny the destructive impact of crime on working class communities

What do McRobbie and Thornton say about moral panics?

That in a Late Modern Era moral panics are:
1) Contested
2) Reflexive
3) More difficult to set off
4) Can rebound back to those in power

What is meant by moral panics are contested?

That there is disagreement as to if there is a basis of a 'panic'

What is meant by moral panics are reflexive?

That politicians, journalists and promoters attempt to set off moral panics

What is meant by moral panics are difficult to set off?

The hard and fast boundaries between normal and deviant would seem to be less common

What is meant by moral panics can rebound back to those in power?

That when a moral panic occurrs we need to examine the credentials of those who claim the moral high ground

What does Horsley say about moral panics?

That moral panics can no longer be set off as the cultural context for a moral panic no longer exists