Explain the concept of 'Moral Panics' and examine the claim that the media generate panics through news reports of deviant behaviour.

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5. Explain the concept of ‘Moral Panics’ and examine the claim that the media generate panics through news reports of deviant behaviour.

A moral panic is said to occur when the media mobilises public opinion around the condemnation of deviance (“Media coverage of deviance: moral panics”, lecture handout, 07-10-02). Deviance, in this context, refers to the violation of social norms and values, and the subsequent disruption of social order. This essay will begin with a clarification of the terms ‘moral panic’ and ‘deviance’ and outline how the two concepts are related. It will then describe the processes of news reporting while making reference to Stanley Cohen’s established case study of the 1964 Bank Holiday fracas in Clacton, England as an example of such a media-fuelled moral panic.    

        As briefly mentioned in the introduction, deviance occurs when people behave in a manner that is contrary to established social norms. In general, people are taught or conditioned to conduct themselves in a ‘socially acceptable’ manner, and theoretically, this management of peoples’ behaviour ensures social cohesion and order. However, a number of questions are raised when one considers ‘normal’ social behaviour. For example, what is and is not socially acceptable? Who decides what is and is not acceptable? Do innate right and wrongs exist? And if they do, are these values upheld by a social consensus?

        Opinions on deviance fall into one of two categories. Firstly, an absolutist view assumes that a social consensus on deviance does exist, and that deviance is a threat to managed social security and order and should be strongly discouraged. The opposite view is a relativist one, which acknowledges that a range of value systems exist and that these values are entirely subjective. Relativists question the basis of social order and appreciate that the more powerful groups within a society impose their value systems on others. Leslie Wilkins in her extract titled “Information and the definition of deviance” (Cohen and Young, 1974, p.36) supports this relativist view and uses culture to illustrate how deviance is subjective. She explains how many cultures prior to Western contact held definitions of normality which were out of accord with existing Western values. However, once the cultures made contact, the Western interlopers would redefine the indigenous cultures’ perceptions of normality and deviance. Thus, distinct value systems do exist, but the more powerful groups in a society routinely impose their own values on others.

        The mass media is a crucial influence on the public perception of deviance. When it focuses on deviance, it shapes opinions on what constitutes deviant behaviour and “provides a symbolic cement for a consensus of values” (“Media coverage of deviance: moral panics”, lecture handout, 07-10-02). And as previously stated, when the media’s focus on such deviance instigates a vehement public denunciation of the associated ‘problem’, it is said to be encouraging moral panic. In his study ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’, Stanley Cohen suggests that a moral panic often occurs when “a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests [and] its nature is presented in a stylised and stereotypical fashion by the mass media" (Shuker and Openshaw, 1990, p.3). In these cases used by the media to ‘manufacture’ a moral panic, the social concern generated by them is often greatly exaggerated, and the perceived threat is by no means as ominous as suggested.

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        For most people, the mass media is the primary source of information on events outside of ones’ personal experiences. It therefore wields an immense amount of influence over the public’s perceptions and opinions, and accordingly, it is reasonably assumed that it will generally present the public with balanced and unprejudiced news coverage. So how and why are moral panics generated? Kelsey and Young’s study “The Gangs: moral panic as social control” (1982) details the processes of news reporting which lead to moral panics. They divide their explanation into three distinct sections: the collection, selection and presentation of news.

        The ...

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