Research Log 4- Moral Panic

Article Written By Ian Marsh and Gaynor Melville (Both lecturers in Liverpool Hope University)

Published in the Internet Journal of Criminology in 2011 (http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/)

'Moral Panics and the British Media - A Look at Some Contemporary Folk Devils'

http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/marsh_melville_moral_panics_and_the_british_media_march_2011.pdf

• In the opening introduction the writers present a definition or explanation of the term 'moral panic';

'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.'

• The opening then considers John Young's review of Cohen's work;

'The review concludes that there are 

key elements to moral panics and that these panics are the result of real events and 

actual behaviour and cannot be dismissed as myths.'

• I think this quote is suggesting that even though moral panics are often mediated by media texts (newspapers, films, tv shows etc), the concept of the moral panic isn't pulled from thin air; there's often a key event that the elaboration of the stereotypes or stigma stem from. For example 9/11- people may always have had a subconscious worry towards the Islamic faith and its followers, but after 9/11 because of the horror of the event and conspiracy theories that surround it; thanks to the media which elaborated and changed the worry to a fear.

'Young’s revisiting of the notion that 

moral panics ‘translate fantasy into reality’'

• In society today sometimes on a daily basis we see news stories that seem completely unbelievable, with moral panics this can be the case- witchcraft is a belief in certain countries but it's often perceived to be evil and dark and we often think of spells, how it's spooky and dangerous like the supernatural. In fact it's simply a group of people that look to the spirits/nature kind of like Paganism.