Moral Panics Midterm 1

Origings of moral panics studies through the conventional phase

identifying the process of deviance amplification

Stanley cohen’s main Sociological contribution to moral panic studies

Difference between Young and Cohen’s use of ‘Moral Panic’

Young uses it descriptively, Cohen uses it critically/analytically

Importance of labelling in Young’s The Drug Takers

Notting Hill drug taking increased as media covered hippies in stigmatizing way

Amplification Spiral

Small, initial deviations from norms/expectations take on ever-increasing significance through processes of labelling, overreaction, and social construction.

monstrous and pathological representations

Simon Watney’s argument about HIV/AIDS includes what of gay men?

processual

the perspective into which the elite engineered theory fits

processual

the perspective into which the interest group theory fits

Journalists, Politicians, media censorship interest groups, British censors

Claimsmakers in the video nasties panic

The filthy fifteen

Fifteen songs deemed most obscene in the U.S. by Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee

Main difference between Labeling theory and conventional moral panic theory

Labelling theory holds that alleged deviants eventually assume the identities assigned to them; conventional moral panic theory does not

Conjunctural Crises

Hall and Colleagues’ term for moments when Conjuncture’s containment of overlapping crises fails

Cohen’s stages of deviance amplification

inventory, innovation, diffusion

The Skeptical Movement

Group of PhD students in Criminology at the London School of Economics who were skeptical of mainstream British Criminology which was empirical, statistical and oriented towards government agendas. They gathered as critically minded students who wanted to use Criminology to address real world issues

The Drug Takers (Young) and Folk Devils & Moral Panics: the Creation of Mods and Rockers (Cohen)

First two studies of moral panics

Radical Criminology

Emerged from skeptical movement in British Criminology- sociological focus with strong influences of cultural marxism and power dynamics. Interested in how powerful interests create and reinforce, rather than discover and respond to, deviant identities.

Signification Spiral

The original deviance is made into a signifier for other deeper social problems and concerns, its importance as a problem to be solved increases as time passes and more concerns are imposed upon it.

Innovation

Reaction of control culture to the media inventory, not the event itself. Timing can be interchangeable with diffusion, processual approach not necessarily linear.

Ex: new legislation, worsened punishments like lengthier sentences.

Nested Moral Panics

small-scale panics that interact with each other and interconnect within a larger panic

Interest Group

groups of certain kinds of people with concerns

Interest Group Theory

Developed by Stanley Cohen; Moral Panic arises as an unintended consequences of interest groups working

Elite Engineered Theory

Grassroots Theory

Master Symbol

Simple, familiar, accessible symbols that function to represent deeper concerns about social change and the state of society at any given time

Satanic daycare master symbols (de young)

vulnerable children, menacing devil, trauma

Constructionist approaches to deviance

labelling theory(Becker)

The process of labeling is a transaction between the labeller and the individual they are labelling through interacting with them. Eventually, if an individual is labeled a certain way for long enough, they will accept that label and live into that role.

4 faces of moral panics

movies (Nickelodeon), comic books, music, pin ball

Attribution approach

Developed by Goode and Ben-Yehuda, identifies 5 attributes hallmark to moral panics: concern(over the behavior of a certain group/category), hostility(collective designation of deviants as an enemy), consensus( agreement that the threat or the need to address the concern is legitimate), disproportionality(reaction to the perceived threat is disproportionate to the actual danger posed by the threat), and volatility(episodic, quick to blow up and quick to die down). This approach is not seen as valid by Mr. Sean himself because it only provides a framework to describe a panic, not critically analyze one.

3 processual stages

inventory, innovation, diffusion

inventory

Taking account of the event/perceived threat. Characterized by exaggeration, prediction, and symbolization. Usually in the media

2 agents: primary and secondary definers

diffusion

Media inventory spreads through mass media, innovation spreads too just later. Timing can be interchangeable with innovation, processual approach not necessarily linear

moral entrepreneur

3 motivations

interest group, elite engineered, grassroots

Hierarchy of credibility

Ethos and authority are based on knowledge and experience

moral crusade

Passionate action towards some end(usually policy change) where Moral Entrepreneurs make claims and do activism work

7 features of a panic

recurring episodes, definitional processes, stylisation of folk devil, indexed to moral barricades, media and moral entrepreneurs, causes/solutions identified, indeterminant outcome

Stuart Hall

founder and director of Birmingham School for Cultural Studies, lead author on “Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order”

Primary Definer

Type of moral entrepreneur who has a voice/influence in constructing and defining the problem. Ex: politicians,

Secondary Definer

Reproduces views from the primary definer(s) and sensationalize them

Agents of a moral panic(5)

the public, the media, control culture, folk devils, moral entrepreneurs

Conjuncture

coming together of all smaller components(education, health, housing, etc) of society that distinguish the shape of society at any given time. Always composed of overlapping crises which are contained (until they aren’t)

Difference between traditional and radical criminology

Traditional criminology asserts deviance is inherent to one’s character and is fixed over time, while radical criminology asserts that deviance is socially constructed, situational, and flexible.