Why do moral panics occur

The priming technique explains how the news frame is used in a certain story to trigger an individual's subconscious and preexisting attitudes, prejudices, and beliefs regarding the presented issue. Again, politicians are vital actors in the moral panic drama. As elected officials operate in the stage of public opinion, they must present themselves as the protectors or heroes of the moral high ground in society.

Hand in hand with law enforcers, politicians, have a sworn duty and moral obligation to protect the community from alleged folk devils if and when they arise. Politicians often arouse moral panic by joining the media and law enforcers in an ethical campaign against the evil bad guys - the folk devils. An example would be President Ronald Reagan in the late s, where he defined the folk devils as the cocaine dealers and precipitated a moral panic over the evils of crack cocaine and the alleged threats of the present sins.

There is no doubt that the public is the most crucial factor in the creation of moral panic. Public agitation, concern, and anxiety over the identified folk devils is the key element of moral panic. The happening of a moral panic only exists to the extent of a public outcry over the dooming, alleged threat posed by the folk devils. Moreover, the success of politicians, the media, and law enforcers in accelerating and maintaining a moral panic is ultimately contingent upon how successfully they arouse and fuel concern, outrage, and anxiety toward the folk devils among the public.

During we all experienced a situation where public fears greatly exceeded the threat that was posed to society - the COVID19 pandemic. Since the virus, illness, and spread happened so suddenly, the information from the experts was not disseminated fast enough to reach the community at the right time. And because of this lack of knowledge and abundance of misinformation, there were exaggerated media headlines that fueled the health-related fears and phobias circulating around, still today.

This public fear, and those responsible for creating and promoting it, is an important topic of discussion, especially amidst the pandemic. Another aspect of moral panic can be centered around marginalized people in society due to race or ethnicity, sexuality, nationality, class, or religion e. LGBT community. Therefore, moral panic can draw on known stereotypes and reinforce them while exacerbating the actual and perceived divisions and differences between communities and people.

Moral panic is recognized in the sociology of deviance and crime as well as being related to the labeling theory of deviance. She is a passionate author, science communicator, and aspiring astrobiologist and astronaut with a great interest in clinical, cognitive, and behavioral psychology. She poses existential interrogations like who are you? What is human?

What is real? What do we actually know? And gives answers through Astrobiology, Psychology, and Evolution. Frothingham, M. Folk Devils and Moral Panics Cohen Simply Psychology. Cannon, W. Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear, and rage. The phrase "moral panic" and the development of the sociological concept is credited to the late South African sociologist Stanley Cohen — Cohen introduced the social theory of moral panic in his book titled "Folk Devils and Moral Panics.

Through his study of these youth and the media and public reaction to them, Cohen developed a theory of moral panic that outlines five stages of the process. First, something or someone is perceived and defined as a threat to social norms and the interests of the community or society at large. Second, the news media and community members depict the threat in simplistic, symbolic ways that quickly become recognizable to the greater public. Third, widespread public concern is aroused by the way news media portrays the symbolic representation of the threat.

Fourth, the authorities and policymakers respond to the threat, be it real or perceived, with new laws or policies. In the final stage, the moral panic and the subsequent actions of those in power lead to social change in the community. Cohen suggested that there are five key sets of actors involved in the process of moral panic.

They are the threat that incites the moral panic, which Cohen referred to as "folk devils," and the enforcers of rules or laws, like institutional authority figures, police, or armed forces. The news media plays its role by breaking the news about the threat and continuing to report on it, thereby setting the agenda for how it is discussed and attaching visual symbolic images to it.

Enter politicians, who respond to the threat and sometimes fan the flames of the panic, and the public, which develops a focused concern about the threat and demands action in response to it.

Many sociologists have observed that those in power ultimately benefit from moral panics, since they lead to increased control of the population and the reinforcement of the authority of those in charge. Others have commented that moral panics offer a mutually beneficial relationship between news media and the state.

For the media, reporting on threats that become moral panics increases viewership and makes money for news organizations. For the state, the creation of a moral panic can give it cause to enact legislation and laws that would seem illegitimate without the perceived threat at the center of the moral panic. There have been many moral panics throughout history, some quite notable.

The Salem witch trials, which took place throughout colonial Massachusetts in , are an oft-mentioned example of this phenomenon. Women who were social outcasts faced accusations of witchcraft after local girls were afflicted with unexplained fits. Following the initial arrests, accusations spread to other women in the community who expressed doubt about the claims or who responded to them in ways deemed improper or inappropriate. This particular moral panic served to reinforce and strengthen the social authority of local religious leaders, since witchcraft was perceived to be a threat to Christian values, laws, and order.

More recently, some sociologists have framed the " War on Drugs " of the s and '90s as an outcome of moral panic. Thornton found that the media failed to generate a moral panic over rave culture, mainly because youth culture had become mainstream by that point, as had the taking of drugs such as ecstasy.

Finally, some concerns which some may call moral panics may be legitimate — such as concerns over child abuse or rising knife crime today. Share this: Tweet. Like this: Like Loading However, this seems to be just a moral panic…. So in brief, and on the whole, the kids are alright!

Investigation Closed Despite the hundreds of alleged cases reported to the police over the past three years, not one of them was ever linked with any actual hard evidence of an individual actually committing a crime.

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