Moral Panics

[Tamrin]

Moral panic

[Excerpt - Article, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Linked Above]

A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972) and credited with coining the term, a moral panic occurs when " condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests." Those who start the panic when they fear a threat to prevailing social or cultural values are known by researchers as "moral entrepreneurs", while people who supposedly threaten the social order have been described as "folk devils."

Moral panics are in essence controversies that involve arguments and social tension and in which disagreement is difficult because the matter at its center is taboo. The media have long operated as agents of moral indignation, even when they are not self-consciously engaged in crusading or muckraking. Simply reporting the facts can be enough to generate concern, anxiety or panic.

Characteristics

---

Moral panics have several distinct features. According to Goode and Ben-Yehuda, moral panic consists of the following characteristics:

• Concern - There must be awareness that the behaviour of the group or category in question is likely to have a negative impact on society.
• Hostility - Hostility towards the group in question increases, and they become "folk devils". A clear division forms between "them" and "us".
• Consensus - Though concern does not have to be nationwide, there must be widespread acceptance that the group in question poses a very real threat to society. It is important at this stage that the "moral entrepreneurs" are vocal and the "folk devils" appear weak and disorganised.
• Disproportionality - The action taken is disproportionate to the actual threat posed by the accused group.
• Volatility - Moral panics are highly volatile and tend to disappear as quickly as they appeared due to a wane in public interest or news reports changing to another topic.

The Witch Craze — an early, prolonged instance of Moral Panic

[Tamrin]

[Tamrin]

Society's moral panic attacks
all grist for the media mill

[Excerpts - Article by Russ Grayson, onlineopinion.com.au, 16/08/2004 - Linked Above]

They come out of nowhere, rise rapidly to an outraged crescendo, then die out just as quickly.

Moral panics are a phenomenon of modern Western cultures and reflect changes sweeping through those societies, people's mixed experience with new technologies and the collapse of confidence in established institutions. We can define a moral panic as a mini-controversy that temporarily outrages sections of the general public and exaggerates fears over the potential misuse of some technology or practice.

Whether the moral panic involves the accessibility of Internet pornography to children, clergy that are habitual sexual abusers of children, mobile phones that take and transmit digital photographs or cloning and stem cell research, the fears all have a basis in reality. Characterised by exaggerated fears, high media profile and outrage from some elements of the public, moral panics are perpetuated and sustained by the sensationalist reporting on the part of some sections of the media and by self-serving politicians and self-appointed guardians of public morals.

The continuing story of clergy who sexually abuse children has been prominent in the media for the past three years. That it has enjoyed such a run is in no small way due to the ineptitude and possible corruption of some churches in dealing effectively with it. Instead of confronting what was the obvious problem with habitual abusers in their ranks, to their discredit, they tried to sweep the issue under the ecclesiastical carpet. That failed, and the prestige of the churches has suffered badly.

The problem is that when the misdoings of the guilty few and the incompetence of their governing bodies was revealed, suspicion fell on all clergy - the innocent as well as the guilty – and the good work the churches were doing suffered. This is characteristic of moral panics - the actual incidents of misuse and abuse are comparatively few, yet the perception is that all are under suspicion. Responsibility for this lies with reporting that provides little by way of context, unscrupulous politicians and a public that is largely media-illiterate.

Moral panics normally have a short life, however when opportunistic politicians and some elements of the media intervene they can be prolonged. The question of whether moral panics are solely the creation of sensationalist reporting or whether reporting deepens or prolongs moral panics is debatable and would have to be considered on a case by case basis. Certainly, the relationship of the media to a surge of concern, fear or panic in society is complex, and easy explanations are best avoided in all but the simplest, most obvious and superficial instances.

Moral panic sells television time and newspapers and it should not come as a surprise that it is the so-called early evening 'current affairs' programs on commercial networks and elements of the tabloid press that play on the fears. As social phenomena, moral panics must be reported - they are valid media material, involving classic media themes such as 'the victim' and 'the hero'. They elicit emotions like fear, loathing and outrage - all good news for media products that set out to exploit such emotions.

[maximus]

Reminds one of a certain "war on terrorism." Hmmm...

[Tamrin]

Agreed: Moral Panic plus Groupthink virtually guarantees disastrous consequences.

[Tamrin]

Groupthink plus Moral Panic

[Tamrin]

We know no spectacle so ridiculous
as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality


Thomas Babington Macaulay
(Died this day 1859)

[Azaziel]

Dec 27, 2010 15:18:36 GMT 10 @maximus said:

Reminds one of a certain "war on terrorism." Hmmm...

My thoughts too, Max