Moral panics by design: The case of terrorism

2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 643-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Moral Entrepreneurs

This article assesses the relationship between terrorism and moral panics to expand understandings of the latter’s eruption and orchestration. Answering calls for deeper considerations of folk devils’ agentic properties, it interrogates how terrorist methods – the deployment of shocking and exceptional violence to incite fear and stimulate political change – challenge extant understandings of the moral panic framework. Specifically, it argues, in the case of terrorism, that the exaggerated threats and disproportionate responses that define moral panics are not driven solely by moral entrepreneurs or social control agents, but are informed by the strategic practices and rationalities of folk devils themselves. Through its approach, this research enhances social-scientific treatments of terrorism, broadens the scope of moral panic analysis, and extends understandings of how fear and anxiety are manipulated for political purposes.

Smartphones, youth and moral panics: Exploring print and online media narratives in India

2020 ◽  
pp. 205015792092226
Author(s):  
Neomi Rao ◽  
Lakshmi Lingam
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
Smartphone Technology ◽  
Smartphone Use ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
Media Narratives

India is a rapidly growing youth market for smartphone technology. Accompanying the spike in Indian youths’ smartphone use is a proliferation of media coverage on the purported impact of smartphones on youths’ physical, psychological, and social well-being. We use a qualitative media analysis to show that the online and print media narratives around this issue reveal widespread fear and anxiety about youths’ smartphone use. We argue that this stems from a moral panic reaction to youths’, particularly young women’s, potential exercise of agency using their smartphones and accessing forbidden content over the internet. This narrative fails to include the potential affordances of internet access for youth and other marginalized people while also failing to address deeper concerns about digitization.

Keeping it clean: Graffiti and the commodification of a moral panic

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-92
Author(s):  
Erik Hannerz ◽  
Jacob Kimvall
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
The Past ◽  
Reliable Source ◽  
Contemporary Work ◽  
Youth Resistance ◽  
Graffiti Removal ◽  
Moral Entrepreneurs

Whereas subcultures such as punk, metal, skate, goth and emo have all been the target of moral panics in the past, the conditions that sparked these moral panics have since become banal and normalized, in line with Stanley Cohen’s claim that moral panics per definition tend to be short-lived. The moral panic about subcultural graffiti in Sweden, however, has proved remarkably consistent. Drawing from contemporary work on moral panics as extreme forms of more mundane moral regulations, this article deals with graffiti as mal placé in relation to both urban space and romanticized conceptions of youth resistance, rendering it not only a suitable enemy for moral entrepreneurs but also a reliable source of income for surveillance and graffiti-removal firms. Whereas the previous subcultural research has discussed moral panics as a first step of the commodification of the subcultural (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="CIT0037">Williams 2011</xref>), the authors use the example of graffiti in Stockholm to point to a commodification, not so much of subcultural style, but of the moral panic itself.

On Moral Panic: Some Directions for Further Development

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicky Falkof
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
Global South ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
Interdisciplinary Framework ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
Further Development

This article is concerned with the continued salience of the notion of moral panic, an idea that has been both enormously influential in sociological and media research and has come under fire for various flaws. It reviews some of the most common critiques of moral panic, discussing why these are valid and where they fall short, and adds new comments on some weaknesses in the theory. It goes on to argue that the term and the idea of moral panic continue to have value as critical tools, but require updating. Suggested further developments include broadening moral panic to allow for analyses that consider the global south; taking account of the narrative layering that characterises these episodes; considering the intersection of moral panics and digital media; centralising fear and anxiety in moral panic research; considering moral panics as an interdisciplinary framework rather than as a strict model; and invoking a psychoanalytic rhetoric to further explain how moral panics work and what they do.

scholarly journals The social function of moral panic

2020 ◽  
pp. 59-75
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Ilić
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
Social Function ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Professional Attitude ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Creation

In this paper, the author discusses the social context of moral panic, ie the role of various social factors in the creation of moral panic. Starting from the known mechanisms of moral panic (traditional and newer), the author considers the roles of the subjects of informal and formal social control in this process. In that sense, it stands out the activity of various moral activists as representatives of the informal social structure who, by propagating the importance of moral protection, often participate in the process of creating of many moral panics. On the other hand, the activities of formal social control bodies are regulated by an appropriate legal frame-work whose task is to solve the problem of crime in society. This implies a professional attitude of the police, the prosecution and the courts in terms of combating crime. The author points out the problem of the participation of the representatives of these bodies in the creation and development of moral panic, considering it in the context of the culture of control, ie its elements, emphasizing especially the role of the police. The author connects all the mentioned segments of the social function of moral panic with the role of the media as an unavoidable factor in the process of moral panic. At the end of the paper, the author emphasizes the importance of the role of the media in raising awareness of the importance of individual actions of all social actors in order to avoid their participation in the creation of moral panic that unfavorable affects on solving the problem of crime.

Lament and Revenge in the Hekabe of Euripides

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian M. Billing
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Funerary Practices ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Female Lament

In this article Christian M. Billing considers the relationship between female lament and acts of vengeance in fifth-century Athenian society and its theatre, with particular emphasis on the Hekabe of Euripides. He uses historical evidence to argue that female mourning was held to be a powerfully transgressive force in the classical period; that considerable social tensions existed as a result of the suppression of female roles in traditional funerary practices (social control arising from the move towards democracy and the development of forensic processes as a means of social redress); and that as a piece of transvestite theatre, authored and performed by men to an audience made up largely, if not entirely, of that sex, Euripides' Hekabe demonstrates significant gender-related anxiety regarding the supposedly horrific consequences of allowing women to speak at burials, or to engage in lament as part of uncontrolled funerary ritual. Christian M. Billing is an academic and theatre practitioner working in the fields of ancient Athenian and early modern English and European drama. He has worked extensively as a director and actor and has also taught at a number of universities in the United Kingdom and the USA. He is currently Lecturer in Drama at the University of Hull.

scholarly journals US Moral Panics, Mexican Politics, and the Borderlands Origins of the War on Drugs, 1950–62

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 364-387
Author(s):  
Benjamin T. Smith ◽  
Wil G. Pansters
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Temporary Closure ◽  
Mexican Politics

During the 1950s Californian civil society advocates and politicians developed a moral panic over youth narcotic use. One of the key elements of this moral panic was the assertion that most drugs came over the border and that the only solution to this problem was blackmailing Mexico through temporary closure of the border. The idea not only became a tenet of later drug policy, but also, in conjunction with pressure from Mexico’s own moral reformers, forced regional politicians in Mexico to enact periodic clean up campaigns.

scholarly journals ‘Do We Look like Boy Racers?’ The Role of the Folk Devil in Contemporary Moral Panics

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Lumsden
Keyword(s):  
Moral Panic ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Young Drivers ◽  
The Media ◽  
Collective Process ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Societal Reaction

This article addresses the failure of studies concerning moral panics to take into account the reaction of those individuals who are the subject of social anxiety. It responds to the suggestion by McRobbie and Thornton (1995) that studies of moral panic need to account for the role played by the ‘folk devils’ themselves, for a moral panic is a collective process (Young, 2007). The paper presents findings from ethnographic fieldwork with the ‘boy racer’ culture in Aberdeen, qualitative interviews with members of outside groups, and content analysis of media articles. The societal reaction to the ‘boy racer’ subculture in Aberdeen is evidence of a contemporary moral panic. The media's representation of the subculture contributed to the stigmatization of young drivers and the labelling of the subculture's activities as deviant and antisocial. The drivers were aware of their negative portrayal in the media; however their attempts to change the myth of the ‘boy racer’ were unsuccessful. Although subcultural media can provide an outlet of self-expression for youths, these forms of media can also become caught-up in the moral panic. Ironically the youths’ own niche and micro media reified the (ir)rationality for the moral panic.

scholarly journals The prevailing social control methods and their relation to the level of ambition among high school students: أساليب الضبط الاجتماعي السائدة وعلاقتها بمستوى الطموح لدى طلبة المرحلة الثانوية

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabah Saleh Al-Shajrawi
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Control Methods ◽  
School Students ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
The Social ◽  
Descriptive Approach ◽  
The Relationship

The study aimed to identify the relationship between the prevailing social control methods and the level of ambition among secondary students. The researcher used the descriptive descriptive approach. In order to achieve the objective of the study, the questionnaire was used to determine the validity and persistence of the social control methods, consisting of (47) items divided into two areas (the first area: the penalties and the second field: the rewards), prepared by the researcher (2005) The study sample consisted of (367) male and female students from the Fourth Directorate of Amman. The results of the study showed that the most common methods of social control used in the field of penalties are: to punish you for the offenses you have committed. In the area of ​​charges, "promote your good behavior in front of students in public." The results also showed that the level of ambition among students was high, ). The results also showed that there is no relationship between the methods of social control and the level of ambition among students. There are statistically significant differences in the methods of social control due to the gender variable. The differences were in favor of males in penalties and in favor of females in rewards. The level of ambition is attributed Variable sex; females in all dimensions of the study for the benefit.

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