Moral Panic

Question 1

What is a ‘moral panic?’

Answer 1

A media fuelled over reaction to social groups.

Question 2

What is a ‘folk devil?’

Answer 2

A group becomes defined as a threat to society’s values.

Question 3

What is deviancy amplification?

Answer 3

Social reaction to deviance from the mass media and the public leads to an increase in the deviance by provoking more of the same behaviour.

Question 4

Cohen: Moral panic about mods and rockers:

Answer 4

• Mods and rockers = two 1960s youth subcultures
• Didn’t see themselves as rival groups
• On Easter Bank Holiday 1964, there was minor acts of vandalism between the mods and rockers in Brighton
• The media exaggerated the violence and this generated concern among the public
• The police clamped down harder on future mods and rockers events, to alleviate public fear
• And as a result, the mods and rockers came to see themselves as rival groups

Question 5

A02: Contemporary examples of moral panics: HIV/AIDS

Answer 5

Members of the LGBTQ+ have been subject of moral panic related to sex and sexuality.
In the 1980s HIV was linked to homosexuality and was picked up on the idea that gay people were spreading it around the world.
A folk-devil was created. The media exaggerated that the spreading of HIV was due to homosexuals.

Question 6

Why do moral panics happen? - Profit

Answer 6

News value - Negativity (Bad news sells).

Question 7

Controlling the ideology:

Black muggers in the 70s
Neo-marxist - Hall:

Answer 7

Labelled young African abd Caribbeans’ as criminals and a potential threat to white people.
Served ideologically to divide and rule the w/c by turning white people against black people, diverting attention away from the mismanagement of capitalism and allowing the heavier policing of black communities.

Question 8

Moral Panic Theory:

Answer 8

Moral panic theory = Labelling theory applied to media.
Instead of agent of social control doing the labelling, it is the media.

Question 9

A03: Thornton:

Answer 9

Found that the media failed to generate a moral panic over rave culture in the 1990s due to shifting norms.

Question 10

AO3: Moral Panic:

Answer 10

Assumes a passive audience - while new media mean audiences are more active.
Some concerns may be legitimate and reflect real risks. EG. Knife crime, pedophilia.
Panic many not be generated because reporting is constant and normalised.