Moral panics and digital-media logic: Notes on a changing research agenda

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Hier
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
Audience Engagement ◽  
Media Logic ◽  
And Control ◽  
Media Formats ◽  
Point Of Departure

This research note critically comments on the lack of attention that moral panic scholars are devoting to the ways in which changing digital media formats are reshaping the dynamics of interaction involved in public claims-making, modes of audience engagement, and techniques of regulation and control. Angela McRobbie and Sarah Thornton’s seminal deconstruction of conventional moral panic studies is used as a point of departure to supplement the logic of mass mediation with insights into some of the structuring principles that ground the logic of digital mediation.

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.

Exploring ‘digital placemaking’

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-578
Author(s):  
Germaine Halegoua ◽  
Erika Polson
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Sense Of Place ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Broad Framework ◽  
The Many ◽  
And Control ◽  
Connected Spaces

This brief essay introduces the special issue on the topic of ‘digital placemaking’ – a concept describing the use of digital media to create a sense of place for oneself and/or others. As a broad framework that encompasses a variety of practices used to create emotional attachments to place through digital media use, digital placemaking can be examined across a variety of domains. The concept acknowledges that, at its core, a drive to create and control a sense of place is understood as primary to how social actors identify with each other and express their identities and how communities organize to build more meaningful and connected spaces. This idea runs through the articles in the issue, exploring the many ways people use digital media, under varied conditions, to negotiate differential mobilities and become placemakers – practices that may expose or amplify preexisting inequities, exclusions, or erasures in the ways that certain populations experience digital media in place and placemaking.

scholarly journals Futures of sustainability: Perspectives on social imaginaries and social transformation. A comment on Frank Adloff and Sighard Neckel’s research program

2021 ◽  
pp. 053901842199956
Author(s):  
Gerard Delanty
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Social Imaginaries ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Future ◽  
And Control

This essay is a comment on the research program launched by Frank Adloff and Sighard Neckel. My comment is specifically focused on their research agenda as outlined in their trend-setting article, ‘Futures of sustainability as modernization, transformation, and control: A conceptual framework’. The comment is also addressed more generally to the research program of the Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies ‘Futures of Sustainability’. I raise three issues: the first relates to the very idea of the future; the second concerns the notion of social imaginaries and the third question is focused on the idea of social transformation.

scholarly journals Archives and identity in the context of social media and algorithmic analytics: Towards an understanding of iArchive and predictive retention

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 3304-3322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Pötzsch
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
The Political ◽  
Archival Theory ◽  
Digital Archives ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
And Control

This article reconceptualizes the archive in the context of digital media ecologies. Drawing upon archival theory and critical approaches to the political economy of the Internet, I account for new dynamics and implications afforded by digital archives. Operating at both a user-controlled explicit and a state- and corporate-owned implicit level, the digital archive at once facilitates empowerment and enables unprecedented forms of management and control. Connecting the politics and economy of digital media with issues of identity formation and curation on social networking sites, I coin the terms iArchive and predictive retention to highlight how recent technological advances both provide new means for self-expression, mobilization and resistance and afford an almost ubiquitous tracking, profiling and, indeed, moulding of emergent subjectivities.

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 The use of participatory methodologies for conducting literacy activities

2017 ◽  
Vol 118 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 456-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Science Field ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Methodological Basis ◽  
Methodological Foundation ◽  
The Media ◽  
Digital Media Literacy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to construct the basis for a research agenda that integrates participatory methodologies (PMs) into literacies (L) research and practice as a valuable methodological basis. Design/methodology/approach The pros and cons of using PM on L research and practice are explained, as well as its possibilities, characteristics and the contributions of a research agenda under such integration (PM-L agenda). This analysis draws from the pertinent literature, Scopus publication data, the author’s own practice as an information literacy (IL) researcher and a questionnaire used to gather further insights from the research community in this matter. Findings A further understanding of the contributions that a PM-L research agenda can bring to the library and information science field is achieved. The pros, cons, hesitations and eagerness that researchers might have toward the idea of using such integration are valuable for determining if this really is a perfect but not an explicit fit. Research limitations/implications Although the questionnaire was promoted in a large international conference during a four-year period (2013-2017), it was answered by 34 participants; only 16 participants had previous experiences with the PM-L integration, and only an average of 8 participants provided significant answers to our open-ended questions. Thus, the amount of data available to analyze was limited. Certainly, using Scopus data provides a large but incomplete picture of the specialized literature that is peer reviewed and indexed, because it excludes publications not indexed that may be pertinent. Originality/value The PM-L integration is deemed as highly adequate, as PMs seek to improve participants’ conditions, situations and realities through reflection and engagement, while L-related activities and research (including information, digital, media literacy or new literacies) are conducted to improve people’s use and understanding of the media for which they are developing literacy. This contributes to their betterment as critical-thinkers, persons, citizens and learners. However, many researchers and especially practitioners do not formally use PM to conduct L activities, at least in many cases, this is not made explicitly. In the case of practitioners, some have conducted such activities empirically, without an appropriate methodological foundation. Hence, to establish PM as the methodologies of choice may help researchers and practitioners have a stronger methodological basis to conduct their work.

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 Cannabis, Moral Entrepreneurship, and Stigma: Conflicting Narratives on the 26 May 2016 Toronto Police Raid on Cannabis Shops

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-171
Author(s):  
Thaddeus Müller
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Social World ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Social Constructions ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
The Media ◽  
Police Raid ◽  
Do So

On May 26, 2016, the police raided 43 cannabis dispensaries in Toronto, Canada, making 90 arrests. This article aims to describe the narrative of the responsible state agencies concerning the police raid and compare it to the narrative of those who opposed it, such as activists, as well as consumers and sellers of cannabis. While such concepts as moral entrepreneur, moral panic, and moral crusade have traditionally been used to study those in power, I will employ them to explore both the state narrative and ways in which counterclaims-makers resisted it. In order to do so, I will further develop the concept of moral entrepreneurship and its characteristics by relating it to studies of moral panics and social problems. This article will be guided by the following question: How did each party socially construct its cannabis narrative, and in what way can we use the concept of moral entrepreneurship to describe and analyze these narratives as social constructions? I have investigated the media coverage of the raid and ethnographically studied shops in Toronto in order to study the narratives. My findings show that both parties used a factual neutral style, as well as a dramatizing style. The later includes such typical crusading strategies as constructing victims and villains and presenting the image of a dystopian social world. In order to explain the use of these strategies, we will relate them to the shifting wider social and historical context and to the symbolic connotation of cannabis shops in Toronto in particular and in Canada as a whole.

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