Interactionist Analysis: Cohen's Folk Devils and Moral Panics Flashcards
What events did Cohen observe?
The fights between the mods and rockers in the 1960’s
How did Cohen find out how the media portrayed the clashes compared to the people fighting?
He observed what the newspapers said but also asked mods and rockers about the intensity of the fighting
What did Cohen say the media were doing in terms of making the deviance seem worse
Deviancy Amplification
What did the media paint the picture of the mods and rockers fights to be?
More violent than they actually were?
Why did the media exaggerate the intensity of the fights between the mods and rockers?
To generate more sales
Which groups of people became Folk Devils due to the media representation of them?
Mods and Rockers
Which 3 entities are responsible for creating Folk Devils?
The Media, The Police, The Government
What did Cohen find about how the Mods and Rockers were treated after becoming folk devils?
They were treated more harshly
What did the Police do once the Mods and Rockers became Folk Devils?
They started to act more on any size of acts of deviants which the Mods and Rockers did
What was the impact of Police responding more frequently and harshly about the Folk Devils?
It created more media reports about the supposed increase in ‘crime’ between these 2 youth cultures
How did other young people see the Mods and Rockers after the media labelled them in a certain way?
They became more inclined to join these youth cultures
Name 3 other Moral Panic events (or 4 if you want)
Knife Crime in the UK
Acid House/Rave
The Hoodies
Urban Music
What is a criticism of Moral Panics? Who said it?
McRobbie and Thornton said that moral panics have diminished due to the diversity of the media
What is a criticism of Moral Panics in terms of the negative impact on youth cultures?
The negative impact is not as large as these labels helped many cultures become mainstream such as Acid House
