Moral Panic Theory

The Social Construction of Reality

• Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman, 1966

• Knowledge is derived from and maintained by social interaction

• The meanings of anything are the product of human interpretations and are not in nature

• Our understandings of the world are produced by us, are socially constructed

Moral Panics

• Stanley Cohen (1972) Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and the Rockers

• A study of subculture and the media’s role in defining social problems

Cohen’s Case Study

• Conflict between Mods (Modernists) and Rockers, in Clacton on Easter Sunday, 1964

• Two groups fought, resulting in some vandalism and property damage

• In the end, 97 arrested• Followed by events in

Brighton and Margate

Conclusions

• The media's coverage of the episode was subject to exaggeration and distortion of the facts, giving the impression the event was more violent than it actually was.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud5vP0RwNy0

The Who’s Quadrophenia

• Record released October 1973

• Film released 1979• http://www.youtube.co

m/watch?v=DYlSjawXzko

Moral Panics

Moral Panic, defined: “A condition, episode,person or group ofpersons emerges tobecome defined as athreat to societal valuesand interests”

The Role of Media

• An 'amplification' takes place through the media

• It appeals to the public so that they concur with ready-made opinions about the course of action to be taken

Actors in the Moral Drama

• Experts, sometimes called “moral entrepreneurs,” both inform and are informed by media

• Politicians and policy makers• Law enforcement• Action groups• Agents of formal social

control• http://www.youtube.com/w

atch?v=YM8t29gD8J8

Social Control

Moral panics function to support and legitimize particular kinds of social control through:

1) Identifying a “social problem”;

2) Simplifying its cause;3) Stigmatizing those involved;4) Stirring up public

indignation or concern.

The Disaster Analogy: Panic Parallels

• Warning• Sensitization to cues of

danger• Coping mechanisms• Overreactions• Institutionalization of

the threat• False alarms

Seven “Stations” of Moral Panic: Chas Critcher

• AIDS• Child Abuse• Drug Use• Immigration• Violence in the media• Street Crime• Youth “deviance”

Goode and Ben Yehuda (1994)Moral Panics:

The Social Construction of Deviance

1. Concern2. Hostility3. Consensus4. Disproportionality5. Volatility

Concern

• Concern mobilized• Becomes a subject for

news media focus• Can generate anxiety, but

not always accompanied by fear

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvIyypo9VQk&feature=fvst

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvIyypo9VQk&feature=fvst

Hostility

• Us versus Them• Good versus Evil• Morality play• Folk devils (villains) and

folk heroes• Hostility to others

expressed in stereotypes

Consensus

Fairly widespread recognition that a social problem existsIt need not include everyone, but enough to convey a general sense of concernConsensus can be built.• http://www.youtube.co

m/watch?v=OiYqFXmVAFg

Disproportion

• Miscalculation or overestimation of the size of the problem, including the number of people involved

• Fabrication of figures• Rumours or urban

legends• http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTdmr5_tbfY

Volatility

• Moral panics appear suddenly and can disappear just as quickly

• CBC report on Dungeons & Dragons, 1980s

• http://archives.cbc.ca/lifestyle/leisure/clips/17284/

Overlapping domains

• Deviance (to which we can add constructions of norms and normalization)

• Social problems• Collective behaviours• Social movements

Three Theories of the Origins of Moral Panics:

• Marxist Theory• Moral Panics serve the

interests of the elite, who benefit from them in some way.

The Grassroots Theory

• Moral Panics begin in and emerge out of the people.

• Moral panics are populist, they reflect the anxieties and fears of the people.

Interest- Group Theory

• Interest-groups, which reflect the middle level of power and are not to be confused with the elite, have their own agendas, including maximizing their own ideology and morality or seeking material or status advantages

Ideology and Hegemony?

• Goode and Ben Yehuda suggest that moral panics need not be “ideological,” while others suggest that they are always ideological.

• How should we conceive of ideology and hegemony as they are expressed in Moral Panics?

Case Study: Comic Books

• Frederic Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent, 1954

• Call for a Comic Code Authority

• http://www.comicartville.com/comicscode.htm

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr62iKBwQTM

Erving Goffman (1974) Framing Theory

• The ways that stories are framed influences the meaning they will have

• Definitions of a situation are constructed in accordance with principles of organization which govern events and our subjective involvement in them

Frames Defined

• Frames are cognitive structures which guide perception and representations of reality

• They structure which parts of reality get noticed

• They are not necessarily consciously manufactured and are often unconsciously adopted

Todd Gitlin’s (1980) definition

• “Frames are principles of selection, emphasis and presentation composed of little tacit theories about what exists, what happens, and what matters.”

• In sort, frames structure our attention

Media Effects

• What effects does our consumption of media have on our understandings of the world?

Cultivation Theory – George Gerbner

• TV viewing has quantitatively observable effects on the perceptual worlds of audiences

• Watching violence on TV creates an exaggerated belief that the world is violent or, in his words, “mean and scary”

The Hypodermic Model

• Also known as the “Magic Bullet theory”

• The passive audience is injected with ideas about the world by media

Agenda Setting Theory McComb and Shaw

• The agenda of the media and the public agenda are closely matched

• The media’s agenda setting function means that there is a high correlation between media and the public ordering of priorities

• People are more likely to attribute importance to an event, issue, or idea because of media exposure

Moral Panics Vs ....

How Risk is Defined in MPs:• Risk found in people• Risks are time limited and

infinitely substitutable• Risks lead to scape- goating• Risks are created by media• Moral outrage is the

outcome• Moral panics can create a

culture of fear

...Vs Risk SocietyRisk Defined in Risk Society:• Risk found in our

environments• Risks are not bound to space

and time • Risks are defined not for

purposes of blame but for purposes of increased control

• Risks are created by science and knowledge

• Moral imperatives to risk aversion are the outcome

• Risk knowledges can create a culture of fear

• What gets defined as a panic and what not depends on who is doing the defining.

• Political agendas and selectivity

• Pedagogies of fear

Technical explanations:

• Media amplification or attenuation of risk

• Most people get information by way of media

• Fear sells

Social explanations:

• Change is experienced as risk

• Concern about the future• Impossibility of knowing• Diminished humanity• Reconciling limits • All collect under the

umbrella of the last theme: Diminished sense of control