The Sociology Book

290

See also: Harold Garfinkel 50–51 ■ Edward Said 80–81 ■

Herbert Marcuse 182–87 ■ Stuart Hall 200–01 ■ Howard S. Becker 280–85

S

o important is the

sociological concept of

“moral panics” that the term

is now widely used by journalists

and politicians. The idea emerged

in the 1970s, partly from South

African-born sociologist Stanley

Cohen’s Folk Devils and Moral

Panics (1972), which was inspired

by media-aggravated conflicts

in 1964 in the UK between youth

groups known as mods and rockers.

Cohen examines how groups

and individuals are identified as

a threat to dominant social values,

and how the media plays a key role

in amplifying this, presenting them

in negative or stereotyped ways,

thus creating a national panic. The

media is an influential institution

that often reflects the values of the

powerful and represents issues so

that the public are enticed to agree

with “experts” (politicians and the

police, for example) on how best to

deal with the problem.

Those seen as blameworthy

become scapegoats, or what Cohen

terms “folk devils,” for problems

that often lie with the state; moral

panics reflect deep-seated

anxieties. Media attention may

create a “self-fulfilling prophecy”

by encouraging the behaviors it

reports. Moral panics can be short-

lived and die down when they are

seen to be dealt with, or they may

form part of a larger, ongoing panic.

The concept of moral panics

continues to be used by academics,

such as British sociologist Angela

McRobbie, to describe the role

the media plays in creating deviant

acts and justifying increased social

control of marginalized groups. ■

SOCIETIES ARE

S U B J E C T , E V E R Y N O W

A N D T H E N , T O P E R I O D S

O F M O R A L P A N I C

STANLEY COHEN (1942–2013)

The 9/11 attacks in New York,

sparked moral panics about “terrorism,”

leading to widespread Islamophobia—

prejudice against Muslims or those

perceived as Muslims.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Moral panics

KEY DATES

1963 Outsiders: Studies in the

Sociology of Deviance, Howard

Becker’s study of labeling,

lays the foundations for moral

panic theory by discussing

how people’s behavior can

clash with societal norms.

1964 Media exaggeration of

clashes between “mods” and

“rockers” youth subcultures in

the UK sparks a moral panic.

1971 In The Drug Takers: The

Social Meaning of Drug Use,

Scottish academic Jock Young,

a friend of Stanley Cohen,

discusses the idea of moral

panic in relation to the social

meaning of drug-taking.

1994 US sociologist Erich

Goode and Israeli academic

Nachman Ben-Yehuda develop

Cohen’s ideas in their book

Moral Panics: The Social

Construction of Deviance.