Reply #160: Moral panics generally express as outrage rather than fear... [View All]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_panic

Moral panic is a sociological term, coined by Stanley Cohen, meaning a reaction by a group of people based on the false or exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group, frequently a minority group or a subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society. It has also been more broadly defined as an "episode, condition, person or group of persons" that has in recent times been "defined as a threat to societal values and interests."<1> They are byproducts of controversies that produce arguments and social tension, or aren't easily discussed as some of these moral panics are taboo to many people.<2> Characterization of the group reaction as a moral panic requires a presumption that the group's perceptions are unfounded or exaggerated.

These reactions are often fueled by media coverage or propaganda around a social issue, although semi-spontaneous moral panics do occur. Mass hysteria can be an element in these movements, but moral panic is different from mass hysteria in that a moral panic is specifically framed in terms of morality and is usually expressed as outrage rather than fear. Moral panics (as defined by Cohen) revolve around a perceived threat to a value or norm held by a society normally stimulated by glorification within the mass media or 'folk legend' within societies. Panics have a number of outcomes, with one being the certification to the players within the panic that what they are doing appears to warrant observation by mass media and therefore may push them further into the activities that led to the original feeling of moral panic.

The influences and behaviors of young people are common themes in many moral panics.

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Moral Panics have several distinct features:

1. Panic/anxiety: This is often very intense and there seems to be no problem greater than the subject of the panic.
2. Short lived: The Panic lasts for only a few months at the most and can recur.
3. Emotive language and images: Phrases such as "monsters", "decay", and "crisis" are used to emphasize the acuteness of the problem. Medical language can also be used out of context such as the word "epidemic".
4. Case Studies: These are often dramatic and unrepresentative.
5. Statistics: Often misused or written in such a way that makes the reader think the problem is worse than it is; for example, "400% greater" may mislead some into thinking that something is 400 times higher rather than 5 times.
6. Demonization of a group: Sometimes the chosen group does not even exist and those that do are mostly socially or economically marginal. Often the media can portray a group in a way that they don't really exist and the group will eventually live up to the stereotype created for them.
7. A Media led or generation phenomenon: Printed to start with and then TV and radio follow amplifying the panic which is then reflected elsewhere such as politics. Even in Victorian society moral panics were seen to be adopted by the media in the form of pamphlets, handbills and newspapers.<5>