Moral Panics: Research Log D

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1) "The term moral panic has been widely adopted both by the mass media and in everyday usage to refer to the exaggerated social reaction caused by the activities of particular groups and/or individuals." - p1


2) "The term has been regularly used in the media to refer to all sorts of anti-social and/or criminal behaviours" - p2


3) "Moral Panic refers to an exaggerated reaction" - p2


4) "Led to an increase in general anxiety and concern about those activities" - p2


5) "Societies appear to be subject, every now and then, to periods of moral panic. A condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests" - p2


6) "Sometimes the panic passes over and is forgotten, except in folk-lore and collective memory... long-lasting repercussions and might produce such changes as those in legal and social policy or even in the way society conceives itself" - p3


7) Their very reporting of certain 'facts' can be sufficient to generate concern, anxiety, indignation or panic" - p3


8) "The media can play on the concerns of the public and can create social problems quite suddenly and dramatically" - p4


9) "Five defining features of moral panics:
1. Moral Panics occur when the media turn a reasonably ordinary event and present it as extraordinary;
2. The media, in particular, set in motion a deviance amplification spiral, through which the subjects of the panic are viewed as a source of moral decline and social disintegration;
3. Moral panics clarify the moral boundaries of the society in which they occur;
4. Moral panics occur during periods of rapid social change and anxiety;
5. Young people are the usual target of moral panics, their behaviour is regarded as a barometer to test the health or sickness of as society" - p4


10) "Moral panics define moral boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour" - p5


11) "There is an assumption that the rapid pace of social change in recent decades leads to more frequent moral panics" - p5


12) "Moral panics can promote social control through providing a focus for mobilizing fear" - p5

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1) "Newspaper headlines continually warn of some new danger resulting from moral laxity, and television programmes echo the theme with sensational documentaries" - p1
2) "Almost anything can spark off a panic" - p2

3) "Contemporary panics seem to catch many more people in their net" - p2

4) "This suggests a number of points relevant to understanding the phenomenon of moral panics. The first is that they take the form of campaigns (crusades), which are sustained over a period, however short or long. Second, they appeal to people who are alarmed by an apparent fragmentation or breakdown of the social order" - p3

5) "Moral guidelines are unclear" - p3

6) "Our moral repertoire has expanded enormously" - p5

7) "It seems that politicians on the left as well as the right of the political spectrum have been prepared to play on the fears of the majority" - p6

8) "We have reintroduced the possibility of regarding moral panics as symptomatic of developments that are of wider significance, rather than viewing them simply as unrelated episodes of collective behaviour" - p140

9) "There have been cultural changes - increased 'multiculturalism' in the broadest sense, fragmentation of cultures, and conflicts over identity, lifestyles and morals" - p140

10) "Moral Panics are often symptoms of tensions and struggles over changes in cultural and moral regulation" - p142

11)"Earlier Panics tended to be focused on a single group" - P2

12)"They seem to be increasingly frequent in modern societies" -p2

13)  "The language of Moral Panic is not new. It is a complaint that has rung out down the ages" -p3