Witch-hunting is a historical example of mass behavior potentially fueled by moral panic. 1555 German print.
A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society.[1][2][3] It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue",[4] usually perpetuated by moral entrepreneurs and mass media coverage, and exacerbated by politicians and lawmakers.[1][4] Moral panic can give rise to new laws aimed at controlling the community.[5]
Stanley Cohen, who developed the term, states that moral panic happens when "a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests".[6] While the issues identified may be real, the claims "exaggerate the seriousness, extent, typicality and/or inevitability of harm".[7] Moral panics are now studied in sociology and criminology, media studies, and cultural studies.[2][8] It is often academically considered irrational (see Cohen's model of moral panic, below).
Examples of moral panic include the belief in widespread abduction of children by predatory pedophiles;[9][10][11] belief in ritual abuse of women and children by Satanic cults;[12] and concerns over the effects of music lyrics.[13] Some moral panics can become embedded in standard political discourse,[2] which include concepts such as the "Red Scare"[14] and terrorism.[15]
It differs from mass hysteria, which is closer to a psychological illness rather than a sociological phenomenon.[16]
^ abCrossman, Ashley. "Understanding How Moral Panic Threatens Freedom". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
^ abcWalsh, James P (November 2020). "Social media and moral panics: Assessing the effects of technological change on societal reaction". International Journal of Cultural Studies. 23 (6): 840–859. doi:10.1177/1367877920912257. PMC 7201200.
^Jones, Marsha (1999). Mass media. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0333672068.
^ abScott, John (2014). A Dictionary of Sociology (Fourth ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 492. ISBN 978-0-19-968358-1.
^Pedneault, Amelie (February 2019). Child Abuse and Neglect: Forensic Issues in Evidence, Impact and Management (1st ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Academic Press. pp. 419–433. ISBN 978-0128153444.
^Cohen 2011, p. 1.
^Cohen 2011, p. [page needed].
^Critcher, Chas (2017). "Moral Panics". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.155. ISBN 978-0-19-026407-9.
^Hesselink-Louw, Anne; Olivier, Karen (1 October 2001). "A criminological analysis of crimes against disabled children: the adult male sexual offender". Child Abuse Research in South Africa. 2 (2): 15–20.
^Lancaster, Roger (2011). Sex Panic and the Punitive State. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. pp. 4, 33–34, 76–79. ISBN 978-0520262065.
^Extein, Andrew (25 October 2013). "Fear the Bogeyman: Sex Offender Panic on Halloween". Huffington Post. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
^Goode & Ben-Yehuda 2009, pp. 57–65.
^Deflem, Mathieu. 2020. "Popular Culture and Social Control: The Moral Panic on Music Labeling". American Journal of Criminal Justice 45(1):2–24 (First published online July 24, 2019)
^Rodwell, Grant (2017). Moral Panics and School Educational Policy. Routledge Research in Education Policy and Politics. London, England: Taylor & Francis. p. 188. ISBN 978-1351627818. Retrieved 29 March 2019. As with the "reds under the beds" moral panics of the post-World War II decades, moral panics have often been manufactured for political purposes [...].
^
Brysk, Alison; Meade, Everard; Shafir, Gershon (2013). "1: Introduction: Constructing national and global insecurity". In Shafir, Gershon; Meade, Everard; Aceves, William J. (eds.). Lessons and Legacies of the War On Terror: From moral panic to permanent war. Routledge Critical Terrorism Studies. London: Routledge. p. 1. ISBN 978-1136188749. Retrieved 29 March 2019. The contributors examine the social, cultural, and political drivers of the war on terror through the framework of a 'political moral panic.'
^"Carol Morley: 'Mass hysteria is a powerful group activity'". The Guardian. 29 March 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
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