Research Log C

"Moral Panics"
By Kenneth Thompson 
Published 1998


"This is the age of the moral panic Newspaper headlines continually warn of some new danger resulting from moral laxity" C1

"moral panics are nothing new" C2 

"almost anything can spark off a panic" C3 

"people to describe the increasingly rapid succession of scares in the mass media about risks to the social and moral order" C4 

"play on the fears of those who feel anxious about mounting risks. Whilst professional groups with an interest in making claims for more resources (eg the police, social workers and teachers) have often been prepared to provide evidence of crisis" C5 

"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" C6 

"society is now more moral place than it was" C7 

"When morality us no longer a question of a few basic rules, authoritatively pronounced on by politicians and church leaders, then society has to argue, debate, negotiate and renegotiate" C8 

"play on the fears of those who feel anxious about mounting risks." C9 

"Moral panics are often symptoms of tensions and struggles over changes in cultural and moral regulation" C10