Moral Panics

Watch the film clip from the 1979 film Quadrophenia which tells the story of disturbances between two subcultural groups of largely working class young people, the mods and rockers, at English seaside resorts 1964 to 1966. As you can see the young people were divided into very clear-cut ‘we-groups’ and ‘they-groups’. Note below the distinctive characteristics of each group (clothes, hair, transport.........). The images should help you.

Mods

Rockers

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Moral Panics

We saw last lesson that the media may well generate crime themselves, for example by transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques.

A further way they may generate crime and deviance is through labelling. As we saw in our study of labelling theory moral entrepreneurs who disapprove of some particular behaviour may use the media to put pressure on the authorities to ‘do something about it’. If successful their campaign will result in the negative labelling of the behaviour and perhaps a change in the law. And as we have seen more laws and more labelling equals more crime.

An important element in this process is the creation of a moral panic – an exaggerated over reaction by society to a perceived problem. This is usually driven or inspired by the media. The social reaction amplifies the problem out of all proportion to its real seriousness.

In a moral panic- The media identify a groups a folk devil or threat to societal values- The media present the group in a negative, stereotypical fashion and

exaggerate the scale of the problem- Moral entrepreneurs, editors, politicians, police chiefs and other

‘respectable’ people condemn the group and its behaviour

This usually leads to calls for a ‘crackdown’ on the group. However it may well create a self-fulfilling prophecy that amplifies the very problem that caused the panic in the first place.

The most influential study of moral panics and the role of the media in generating crime is Stanley Cohen’s (1972) book Folk Devils and Moral Panics

In the spring of 1964 the ‘red top’ tabloid press featured headlines which suggested that members of two rival youth groups (Mods and Rockers) were involved in worrying and shocking violent disturbances at holiday resorts around the UK.

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Mods were fashion-conscious youths identified by cropped hair and motor scooters, often featuring bump bars, mirrors and lights. Rockers were long-haired, leather-jacketed motorbike gangs modelled on the American Hell's Angels.

19th May 1964: On a Margate street police stand between a group of 'Mods' on the left and 'Rockers' on the right. Battles between the two teenage gangs had allegedly disturbed the Whitsun holiday on the south coast of England.

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3rd August 1964: A group of Mods running along the beach at Hastings, Kent, during alleged violence between Mods and Rockers.

AO1Stan Cohen wanted to dig deeper and researched the social reaction to the Mods versus Rockers disturbances in 1964. In his book Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972) he noted the front page outrage in the national press e.g.

o all-day clasheso Wild Oneso rival gangso day of terroro seaside mayhemo battlefield

However Cohen in his research could find little actual evidence that such clashes between rival groups of motorcycle-scooter gangs actually took place. The only violence he found witness to involved regional rivalries not bike gangs. He argued that the press reports were distorted, wildly exaggerated and portrayed a false picture of what actually went on.

Cohen argues identified 3 distinctive elements in the media reporting of events:a)Exaggeration and distortion: numbers, damage caused, violence...b)Prediction: that further conflict and violence was on the cardsc)Symbolisation: the symbols of the youth groups were all negatively labelled and associated with deviance

However the media outrage SPARKED a series of interrelated responses:-

a)It aroused wider public concern police increased surveillance more arrests result confirmed validity of initial press reports

b)The reported Mod/Rock antagonism advertised and encouraged young people to opt for one camp or the other (created we-groups and they groups)

polarization cemented the imagemore clashes elsewhere and more arrests resulted confirmed validity of initial press reposts

c) New disturbances created even more news coverage even more police surveillance even more public concern

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Wilkins termed this process a Deviancy Amplification Spiral

Less tolerance…………………………………leads to……….more acts being defined as crimes…………leads to………. more action against criminals……………….leads to……….more alienation of deviants………………….leads to……….more crime by deviant groups……………….leads to……….less tolerance of deviant groups by conforming groups………

We saw in our work on LABELLING how youths can come to identify with the label attached to them which may result in a status transformation – they may come to believe they are actually deviant, and separate from mainstream society and act as such (Self-Fulfilling Prophecy). Cohen argued that groups for whatever reason could be singled out as Folk devils (a threat to public order and social values) and as a result act out that stigmatised role.

A02 Evaluation and AnalysisThe Moral Panic Thesis is important because it helps us to explain media exaggeration and distortion. It argues that selective reporting and police targeting actually creates crime waves and social problems. The mass media stir or whip up public indignation and engineer concern about certain behaviours even when there may be nothing new about it, or when the real threat is minimal.

Cohen argued that we must always place Moral Panics in their wider socio-historical context in order to understand them. For instance the Mods-Rockers moral panic emerged in a time of rapid social change when young people, with increased spending power and leisure time, had begun to use this to purchase consumer goods (motor cycles, scooters, fashion accessories etc) and to travel.

To Cohen moral panics are the result of a boundary crisis – uncertainty of where the boundary lay between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in a time of change. Public uncertainty about this new development was resolved by making biker groups (real or created) scapegoats or folk devils, and who became visual symbols of what is wrong with society. Moral Panics may thus serve to divert and fix the public gaze on the symptoms not cause of social unrest.

Moral panics thus reflect deep-seated public anxieties and uncertainties. They are distinguished by 4 features:

Discrepancy of truth and depth of public perception and reaction Focus around key social groups/themes/categories feeds off/spirals with other concerns that are identified with it develop into control crusades and/or law and order campaigns by moral

entrepreneursPERSPECTIVES – how have the perspectives understood moral panics?

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See p123 for some useful small sections on Functionalist and Neo Marxist ideas:a) Functionalists and Moral Panics

b) Neo - Marxists and Moral Panics

Criticisms of the idea of moral panics:1

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