Moral Panics

Aims

·    understand the term moral panic;

·    understand the process of deviancy amplification;

·    be able to apply examples of moral panics;

·    structure an essay on this topic.

Through prophesying trouble they create it and, additionally, amplify any deviance which may already exist

News and other factual programmes, by giving publicity to trouble spots and potential violence, actually cause that violence and trouble to occur. When this happens there has been a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The apartheid South African government argued that this was occurring in its country and as a result introduced legislation which censored domestic and foreign media coverage of popular unrest there.

It also placed restrictions on the movement of journalists around the country. The presence of the media encouraged the rioting because dissidents knew they would have an audience, the argument ran.

It was in recognition of this effect that British news editors some years ago decided to stop reporting a spate of bomb hoaxes (copycat) which were plaguing airline companies.

It was felt that the hoaxers were gaining satisfaction from the reports of their actions (planes delayed, searches of aircraft etc.). The number of hoaxes was dramatically reduced following this decision.

There are tales of camera crews, in search of good pictures, deliberately inciting violence so that they could get them, In Northern Ireland too there are said to have been occasions when foreign camera crews have encouraged young Catholic boys to throw stones at the army in front of the cameras.

The process of self fulfilling prophecy occurs like this:

A small group of people commit some act of deviance

The media’s news values pick up on an ‘interesting’ story: a problem group is identified.

The media produce headlines, stories, and photographs to interest readers and viewers

To maintain readers’ interests, original deviance is amplified through exagerated and sensationalised reporting. Causes are simplified for easy explanation.

The group is labelled as folk devils and stereotyping occurs.

More deviance occurs as people become more aware of it as a result of the media’s interest, and seek it out for excitement.

A moral panic develops. Public concern is aroused at the real or imaginery ‘threat’ to society; the media campaign for ‘action’ to be taken against this perceived threat

order is restored by police, courts and (sometimes) new legislation

Thus the mass media, almost single-handed, have created deviance out of little on nothing and, by predicting that something is going to happen, have made it happen. Consider reporters at an England football match or the Mayday protests

Academic studies of this process occurring include Stan Cohen's Folk Devils and Moral Panics and Jock Young's The Drugtakers, though these both deal with events of some years ago.

The former showed how Mods and Rockers were virtually created by the media through largely fictional accounts of violent incidents at South Coast resorts.

The latter demonstrated how Notting Hill marijuana users were criminalised and forced into greater deviance by media exaggeration of their behaviour and lifestyle and subsequent police action against them.

More recently media coverage of hippy convoys' travelling to Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice, travellers moving in convoys around the country and ‘raves' in countryside locations led to increased public concern and subsequently police act on.

These events had previously been peaceful, though drugs were usually involved. However the police intervention led to violent confrontation and conflict.

In effect a problem was created where there had not been one before, and of course this too was reported by the media, further fuelling public concerns.

Folk devil/moral panic

Folk devil: A group or an individual popularly represented as evil and a threat to society.

Hall et al. define a moral panic as happening when the official reaction to a person, groups of persons or series of events is out of all proportion to the actual threat offered'.

          

Deviancy amplification

The process by which the amount or seriousness of deviancy is increased through the reporting of it and the subsequent actions which are taken by the police or other agencies and response by ‘deviants'. What is amplified is the reported deviance, the social reaction and the actual deviance that results from this.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

The process by which an event is caused to occur by the fact that a predic­tion is made that it will occur.

Are there any similar examples of the self-fulfilling prophecy and deviancy amplification by the media that have occurred more recently? In thinking about this you should look for:

·        detailed descriptions in the media of some deviant person or group;

·        description of some trouble that they have caused in the past;

·        a prediction of when and where they are likely to cause trouble.

A moral panic can be recognised in the intensity of feeling expressed by a large number of people about a specific group of people who appear to threaten the social order at a given time. These people become ‘folk-devils', about whom 'something needs to be done'. This 'something' usually takes the form of increased social control, which might mean stricter laws, longer sentences, heavier fines and increased policing of specific areas. After the imposition of these new controls, the panic subsides until a new one emerges. It is interesting to analyse the contexts of moral panics because they invariably occur when powerful interests groups in society are facing troubled times (Goode and Ben-Yehuda, 1994).

Characteristics of a moral panic

Most societies at some time have been gripped by a moral panic and we need to know how to recognise one when it occurs. Sociologists are interested in the development of issues into moral panics.

It is important to consider who actually has the power, if power is the appropriate term here, to define the event as a moral panic. We also have to decide at what point concern about a specific phenomenon becomes a moral panic. What are its major characteristics? Can we know that we have experienced one only after the event?

We can at least find some common ground on what constitutes a moral panic. Goode and Ben-Yehuda (1994) outline what they see as the five main features of a moral panic: concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionality and volatility.

Concern

There must be awareness that the behaviour of a particular group or category is likely to have negative consequences for the rest of society. This gives rise to public concern, which may be shown through public opinion polls and, significantly, through media coverage.

Hostility

There must be increased hostility directed at this group, and they may be referred to as the enemy of respectable society. They become 'folk­devils' and a clear division opens between 'them', the threateners, and us', the threatened.

Consensus

There must be fairly widespread acceptance that the threat posed by this group is a very real one to the rest of society. The consensus does not necessarily have to be nationwide, but it is important that the moral entrepreneurs are vocal and that the voices of the opposition are weak and disorganised.

Disproportionality

It is implicit in the term 'disproportionality' that the societal reaction to the event is out of proportion. In a moral panic the public is given evidence in the form of statistics, which are often wildly exaggerated. Furthermore the statistics for drug addiction, attacks, victims, injuries, illnesses and so on are disproportionate to the actual threat exercised by the group or category.

Volatility

Moral panics, as the term implies, are volatile. Any moral panic has a limited 'shelf life', although it might lie dormant for a long period of time and might also reappear during different historical periods. (The panic over satanic ritual abuse in the 1980s had Medieval antecedents in witchcraft accusations and trials.) In general they erupt suddenly and just as quickly subside. However, irrespective of whether or not there is a long-term impact, the public hostility generated during a moral panic is relatively short-lived: it is difficult to sustain antagonism at fever pitch for any length of time, public interest may wane or the news agenda setters may change the focus of attention.

Questions

Examine 'volatility'. Think back to a recent moral panic:

1  Who or what was it focused on?

2.     What was the eventual outcome? (For example was there a legal change as a result of it?)

Moral panics occur most frequently in societies that are modern or undergoing modernisation; when this is the case, they may serve as a means of both strengthening and redrawing the moral boundaries in those societies. 'When a society's moral boundaries are sharp, clear and secure, and the central norms and values are strongly held by nearly everyone, moral panics rarely grip its members - nor do they need to' (Ben-Yehuda, 1985).