Moral Panics

Abstract

The term “moral panics” (MPs) first appeared as an academic term at the beginning of the 1970s, in the well‐established field of sociology of deviance and labeling, along with the emerging sociology of mass media. It was the pioneering studies of Jock Young (1971), on the social meaning of drug use, and of Stanley Cohen (1972), on the media‐inspired confrontations between youths, which developed and effectively launched the concept of MPs to its present status as a central tool of sociological and media analysis, as well as a common phrase in popular discourse. Since then, the conceptualization of moral panics has benefited from several theoretical innovations. The original model drew mainly on symbolic interaction and labeling theory in relation to deviant behavior, but also on other theories, such as those interrogating collective behavior, social problems, and social movements. Ironically, the success of the concept has also resulted in loose or outdated theoretical applications (McRobbie & Thornton 1995; Cornwell & Linders 2002; Garland 2008) and increased questions about its efficacy (Ungar 2001; Hier 2008). However, the concept and theory of MPs retain all their pertinence and still offer us a heuristic analytical tool by which to study social movements.