Moral panic
From Wacklepedia - The Free Encyclopedia
A
moral panic is a semi-spontaneous or media-generated mass movement based on the perception that some individual or group, frequently a
minority group or a
subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society. These panics are generally fuelled by, although not always caused by,
media coverage of social issues. A widely circulated and new-seeming
urban legend is frequently involved. These panics can sometimes lead to mob violence. The term was coined by
Stanley Cohen in
1972, who coined the phrase to describe media coverage of
Mods and Rockers in the
United Kingdom in the
1960s.
Recent moral panics in the UK have included the ongoing tabloid newspaper campaign against paedophiles, which led to the assault and persecution of a paediatrician by an angry mob in August 2000, and that surrounding the murder of James Bulger in Liverpool in 1993.
Examples of moral panics, or real or imagined phenomena that spurred moral panic:
See also:
Quotation:
- Oh, we got trouble!
- Right here in River City!
- --The Music Man
References:
- Cohen, Stanley. Folk devils and moral panics. London: Mac Gibbon and Kee, 1972.
External links