Describe the concept of a 'Moral Panic' and explain how this may impact on publics perceptions of crime

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Describe the concept of a ‘Moral Panic’ and explain how this may impact on publics perceptions of crime

Most people use second hand information as their core source of information about crime, this source of information usually being the media. When carrying out sample research in Birmingham, Susan Smith (1984) discovered that 52% of people obtained most of their information about crime from the media, 36% obtained it from hearsay or alleged experiences of friends and neighbours, 3% from their own experiences, and 1% from the police service themselves (cited in Jones, 2001; 8). However the media tend to exaggerate upon areas of criminal activity causing a moral panic.

‘A moral panic is a semi- spontaneous or media generated mass movement based on the perception that some individual or group, frequently a minority group or subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses menace to society. These panics are generally fuelled by the media, although not always caused by, media coverage of social issues… These panics can sometimes lead to mob violence… (newsfilter.co.uk).

Some of the governing models of moral panics include Jock Young (1971) and Stanley Cohen (1972). Stanley Cohen fabricated the idea of moral panics in his book Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972), whilst Jock Young concentrated more on the correlation of deviance amplification and drug taking. The main feature of a moral panic is deviance amplification; this was looked at in more detail by Stanley Cohen (1972) in what he called the deviancy amplification spiral. Some examples of media moral panics include; internet pornography, violence in video games, immigration, single parents etc… Moral panics can affect the public’s perceptions of crime in many ways, making the extent of crime appear much higher than it actually is. The rest of this paper will endeavour to look deeper into the concept of a ‘moral panic’; explaining how they might have an influence upon the public’s perception of crime.

As mentioned earlier Stanley Cohen (1972) is one of prominent sociologists that devised the term ‘moral panic’. He defined the concept as

‘A sporadic episode which, as it occurs, subject’s society to bouts of moral panic, or in other terms, worries about the values and principles which society upholds which may be in jeopardy’ (Cohen, 1987; 9).

The term ‘moral panic’ was introduced by Stanley Cohen (1972) in his book entitled ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’. This was as a result of the studies he carried out on the UK’s media and social reaction to the ‘Mods and the Rockers’ in the 1960’s. The research was based upon a group of working-class youths; there were two groups of people who fought on the Clacton beach leaving many beach huts vandalised. Therefore this became front page news within the media, the press claiming that ‘Clacton had been terrorised by rampaging groups of ‘Mods’ and ‘Rockers’’ (Jones, 2001; 84). The media captured the interest of the public by using eye catching head lines and phrases, some of the phrases incorporated  in the test include ‘riot’, ‘siege’, and ‘screaming mob’ (The Guardian). They use such words in a ‘moral panic’ to try and catch the attention of the public’s eye.

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A moral panic is not a new phenomenon it is an atypical event which is taken by the media and presented as a typical event which in turn looks like it is happening everywhere. According to Goode and Ben- Yehuda (1994) there are five vital elements that define a moral panic, these being: ‘concern, hostility, consensus, disproportional, and volatility’. In order for a moral panic to exist Goode and Ben- Yehuda (1994) believe that these elements should be evident. Stanley Cohen’s (1972) theory of a moral panic included the ‘deviancy amplification spiral’ (Cohen, 1987; 82). A moral panic is ...

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