Moral Panic

• Moral Panic: an exaggerated over-reaction by society to a perceived problem, usually driven by the media. 
• Moral Panic: 

  1. Media identifies a folk devil 
  2. Media presents the group in a negative, stereotypical fashion and exaggerate the scale 
  3. Moral entrepreneurs and control agencies condemn the group
• Mods and Rockers - Cohen 1972: 

  Mods: smart dress, rode scooters 

  Rockers: leather jackets and motorbikes

  Media’s inventory of what occurred: 

  1. Exaggeration and Distortion (headlines such as Day of Terror by Scooter Gangs) 
  2. Prediction 
  3. Symbolisation (negatively labelled and permanently associated with deviance)