Moral Panics 1
- Created by: Jakeyboy13579
- Created on: 06-10-20 14:01
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- Moral Panics 1
- Moral panics
- The media also causes C&D through labelling.
- For example, moral entrepreneurs who disapprove of some particular behaviour may use the media to put pressure on authorities to 'do something' about the alleged problem
- If successful, their campaigning will result in negative labelling of the behaviour and perhaps change the law
- For example, moral entrepreneurs who disapprove of some particular behaviour may use the media to put pressure on authorities to 'do something' about the alleged problem
- In a moral panic:
- The media identify a group as a threat to societal values (folk devils)
- The media present the group as a negative stereotype and exaggerate the scale of the problem
- Moral entrepreneurs, editors, politicians, bishops and other 'respectable' people condemn the group and its behaviour
- This usually leads to a 'crackdown' on the group although it may also lead to a self fulfilling prophecy that amplifies the very problem that caused the problem in the first place
- Moral entrepreneurs, editors, politicians, bishops and other 'respectable' people condemn the group and its behaviour
- The media present the group as a negative stereotype and exaggerate the scale of the problem
- The media identify a group as a threat to societal values (folk devils)
- The media also causes C&D through labelling.
- Stanley Cohen (1972): Mods and Rocker
- Cohen wrote a book on moral panics called 'Folk Devils and Moral Panics'
- This book talked about how a few fights between the Mods and the Rockers between 64 and 66 led to a moral panic
- Although the disorder of the Mods and Rockers was relatively minor, the media over reacted by portraying the events as a major disaster. The inventory of the events presented by the media contained three elements:
- Exaggeration and distortion
- The media exaggerate the numbers involved and the extent of the damage and distorted the events through dramatic headlines
- Prediction
- The media assumed and predicted that further conflict and violence would occur
- Symbolisation
- Symbols of mods and rockers were negatively labelled and associated with deviance, allowing the media to link unconnected events with C&D
- Exaggeration and distortion
- Cohen argues that the Media's portrayal of events produced a deviance amplification spiral
- Cohen wrote a book on moral panics called 'Folk Devils and Moral Panics'
- According to functionalists, moral panics can be seen as ways of responding to the sense of anomie or normlessness created by change.
- By dramatizing the threat to society in the form of a folk devil, the media raises the collective consciousness and reasserts social control when values of society are threatened
- Neo Marxists consider moral panics in the context of capitalism
- Hall et al (1979) argued that the moral panic over 'black muggers' in the 70s served to distract people's attention away from the crisis in capitalism
- Moral panics
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