The following is a list of events that fit the sociological definition of a moral panic.
In sociology, a moral panic is a period of increased and widespread societal concern over some group or issue, in which the reaction to such group or issue is out of proportion to its actual threat. The target of the panic is then labeled as deviant and the concern is further fueled by mass media and moral entrepreneurs. Moral panics may result in legislative and/or long-lasting cultural changes in the society they occur. The concept was first introduced into the field of sociology by Stanley Cohen in his 1972 book and has since been expanded by other researchers.[1][2][3] Moral panics are different from irrational hysterias.[4]
18th century and before
title | target | concern | causes | location | time | refs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blood libel | Jews | The false idea that Jews engage in the kidnapping and murder of gentile children. | Europe | [5] | ||
American-European witch-hunts | Supposed witches | Europe | Middle ages to the 1700s | [6] |
19th century
title | target | concern | causes | location | time | refs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anti-Catholic panic | Catholic immigrants | That Catholics were conspiring against American interests. | Increased immigration of Catholics to the U.S. | United States | 1840s, 1850s | [7][6] |
Garroting panic of the 1860s | Garroting thieves | Robberies involving the practice of garroting. | Recurring garroting crimes | United States | 1860s | [8][9] |
White slavery scare | Owners of White slaves | The enslavement and prostitution of White women. | Reports of the prostitution of White girls in private businesses, release of Traffic in Souls | United Kingdom, United States | 1880s (UK), early 1900s (US) | [10][11] |
20th century
title | target | concern | Causes | location | time | refs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Comic book panic | Comic books | That comic books were negatively influencing young people | Popularization of comic books among the youth, publication of Seduction of the Innocent | United States | 1930s - 1950s | [12][13] |
Homosexuality panic | Homosexual people | That gay people were trying to "promote homosexuality" to society, including children. | United States, United Kingdom | 1950s - 1990s | [14][15] | |
Lavender scare | Gay men and lesbians | That homosexuals were conspiring against the United States during the Cold War. | United States | 1950s | [11][16] | |
Mods and rockers panic | Members of the two groups | Hooligan activities by the two youth groups. | Recurring conflicts between mods and rockers, media sensationalism | United Kingdom | 1960s | [17][2] |
War on drugs | Drug traffickers and addicts | Drug trafficking and consumption. | Increase of drug consumption in society | Global | 1970s | [4][18] |
Sex offender panic | Sex offenders | Sex crimes, especially those relating to children | Reoccurrence of high-profile child sexual abuse scandals | United States, United Kingdom | 1970s - present | [19][20][21][22] |
Violent video games moral panic | Violent video games | That video games were influencing children into committing violent acts. | Popularization of violent video games among the youth, anti-game activism by influential figures | United States | 1970s - 1990s | [23][24] |
Satanic panic | Supposed satanic cults | That supposed Satanic cults were engaging in child sexual abuse rituals. | Unsubstantiated Satanic ritual abuse rumors and allegations, tabloid media coverage | United States | 1980s | [25][26] |
Missing children panic | Kidnapers | Child abduction by strangers. | Media coverage of child abduction cases, murder of Adam Walsh, misreadings of forensic statistics | United States | 1980s | [27][28][29] |
Dungeons & Dragons panic | Dungeon and Dragons and other table-top RPG games | That some table-top games were leading young people into drug use and Satanism. | Popularization of role-playing games among the youth in the 1970s, Christian activism | United States | 1980s | [30][31] |
Day-care sex-abuse hysteria | Supposed Satanist day-care workers | That some day-care centers were engaging in Satanic child sexual abuse. | Previous panics about Satanic ritual abuse, increased usage of day-cares among employed women with young children | United States | 1980s - 1990s | [32][33] |
AIDS panic | Gay men | AIDS dissemination, particularly by gay men. | AIDS pandemic of the 1980s, Conservative activism | Global | 1980s - 1990s | [34][35] |
Wilding panic | Black youth gangs | Physical and sexual assaults in public streets by youth gangs. | Rape of Trisha Meili, sensationalistic journalism | United States | 1989 - 1990s | [36][37] |
Dangerous dogs panic | Dogs, especially pit bulls | Dog attacks against humans. | Sensationalistic media coverage of dog attacks, dog-extermination activism | United Kingdom | late 1980s - 1990s | [38][39][40] |
Harry Potter panic | The Harry Potter book series | That the series was leading children into witchcraft and occultism. | The novels' themes of magic and witchcraft and its popularity among children; Christian activism | United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia | 1990s - 2000s | [41][1] |
Internet moral panic | The Internet | The Internet's propensity to expose children pornographic materials, facilitate child grooming and enable other crimes. | Popularization of the Internet, including among children | Global | 1990s - 2000s | [42][43][44] |
21st century
title | target | concern | Causes | location | time | refs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Islamic terrorism panic | Arabs and Muslims | Arab and Muslim terrorism. | September 11 attacks | United States | Early 2000s | [45][46] |
Human trafficking panic | Human traffickers | Sex-trafficking and human-trafficking. | Reoccurrence of high-profile human and sex-trafficking scandals | United States, United Kingdom, Australia | 2000s -present | [47][48][49][50] |
Internet predator scandal | Adults who solicit sex from minors online | Sexting between adults and minors on the internet | Popularization of social media among young people, misreadings of online sex crime statistics[51][52] | United States, United Kingdom | 2000s | [51][53][52] |
Gender ideology panic | LGBT activists | Fears that LGBT activists were introducing children to "gender ideology" in schools. | Increase of neo-Conservative activism in Latin America since the 1980s | Latin America | 2000s, 2010s | [54][55] |
Qanon | Politicians and celebrities | That some politicians and celebrities engaged in Satanic child sexual abuse rituals. | Conspiracy theories fueled by social media algorithms | United States | 2010s | [56][57] |
Immigrant child grooming panic | South Asian immigrants | Immigrant "grooming gangs" in Europe and their danger to White girls. | Anti-Muslim sentiments in the UK, sensationalistic media coverage of migrant sex crimes | United Kingdom | 2010s - present | [58][59] |
Anti-LGBT panic | LGBT people | LGBT child grooming and genital mutilation of cisgender children by gender professionals. | Increasing number of children identifying as LGBT, misreadings of medical statistics | United States, Argentina, Brazil | 2010s - present | [60][29] |
References
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- ^ a b Jones, Paul (1997-11). "Moral Panic: The Legacy of Stan Cohen and Stuart Hall". Media International Australia. 85 (1): 6–16. doi:10.1177/1329878X9708500103. ISSN 1324-5325.
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(help) - ^ Walsh, James P (2017). "Moral panics by design: The case of terrorism". Current Sociology. 65 (5): 643–662. doi:10.1177/0011392116633257. ISSN 0011-3921.
- ^ a b Hawdon, James E. (2001-09-30). "the role of presidential rhetoric in the creation of a moral panic: reagan, bush, and the war on drugs". Deviant Behavior. 22 (5): 419–445. doi:10.1080/01639620152472813. ISSN 0163-9625.
- ^ Krzyzanowski, Lukasz; Zaremba, Marcin (2024-03). ""Our children": Moral panic associated with children and collective violence against the Jews in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War in Poland". Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 41 (3): 409–431. doi:10.1002/crq.21411. ISSN 1536-5581.
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(help) - ^ a b Victor, Jeffrey S. (1994-07). "Fundamentalist religion and the moral crusade against Satanism: The social construction of deviant behavior". Deviant Behavior. 15 (3): 305–334. doi:10.1080/01639625.1994.9967975. ISSN 0163-9625.
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(help) - ^ Yacovazzi, Cassandra L. (2023-05-23), "The Popery Panic", Catholics and Violence in the Nineteenth-Century Global World (1 ed.), New York: Routledge, pp. 302–322, doi:10.4324/9781003127857-20, ISBN 978-1-003-12785-7, retrieved 2024-06-18
- ^ Adler, Jeffrey S. (1996). "The making of a moral panic in 19th‐century America: The boston garroting hysteria of 1865". Deviant Behavior. 17 (3): 259–278. doi:10.1080/01639625.1996.9968028. ISSN 0163-9625.
- ^ Critcher, Chas (2017), Lee, Murray; Mythen, Gabe (eds.), "'Hot under the collar'", The Routledge International Handbook on Fear of Crime (1 ed.), 1 Edition. | New York : Routledge, [2018] | Series: Routledge international handbooks: Routledge, pp. 20–34, doi:10.4324/9781315651781-3, ISBN 978-1-315-65178-1, retrieved 2024-06-18
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- ^ a b Unger, Nancy C. (2024). "Legislating Morality in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era: Moral Panic and the "White Slave" Case That Changed America". The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. 23 (2): 141–169. doi:10.1017/S1537781423000531. ISSN 1537-7814.
- ^ Condis, Megan; Stanfill, Mel (2022-11-02). "Debating with Wertham's ghost: comic books, culture wars, and populist moral panics". Cultural Studies. 36 (6): 953–980. doi:10.1080/09502386.2021.1946579. ISSN 0950-2386.
- ^ Shuker, Roy (1986). "Popular culture and moral panic: From comics to video nasties" (PDF). ACCESS: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN EDUCATION. 5 (2).
- ^ Wise, Sue (2000-05). "'"New Right" or "Backlash"? Section 28, Moral Panic and "Promoting Homosexuality"'". Sociological Research Online. 5 (1): 148–157. doi:10.5153/sro.452. ISSN 1360-7804.
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(help) - ^ Robinson, Kerry (2008). "In the Name of 'Childhood Innocence': A Discursive Exploration of the Moral Panic Associated with Childhood and Sexuality". Cultural Studies Review. 14 (2). doi:10.5130/csr.v14i2.2075. ISSN 1837-8692.
- ^ Karger, Michael (2022), "Moral Panics of Sexuality", The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Sexuality Education, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1–11, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-95352-2_5-1, ISBN 978-3-030-95352-2, retrieved 2024-06-19
- ^ Grayson, Richard S. (1998-03). "Mods, Rockers and Juvenile delinquency in 1964: The government response". Contemporary British History. 12 (1): 19–47. doi:10.1080/13619469808581467. ISSN 1361-9462.
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(help) - ^ Welch, Michael; Wolff, Russell; Bryan, Nicole (1998-12-01). "Decontextualizing the war on drugs: A content analysis of nij publications and their neglect of race and class". Justice Quarterly. 15 (4): 719–742. doi:10.1080/07418829800093961. ISSN 0741-8825.
- ^ Boone, Miranda; van de Bunt, Henk (2016-03). "Dynamics between denial and moral panic: The identification of convicted sex offenders in the community". Probation Journal. 63 (1): 23–40. doi:10.1177/0264550516637450. ISSN 0264-5505.
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(help) - ^ Burchfield, Keri; Sample, Lisa L.; Lytle, Robert (2014). "Public interest in sex offenders: A perpetual panic?". Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law and Society. 15 (3): 96–117. ISSN 1096-4886.
- ^ Walker, Bela (2010-01-01). "Essay: Deciphering Risk: Sex Offender Statutes and Moral Panic in a Risk Society". University of Baltimore Law Review. 40 (2). ISSN 0091-5440.
- ^ Fox, Kathryn J. (2013-03). "Incurable Sex Offenders, Lousy Judges & The Media: Moral Panic Sustenance in the Age of New Media". American Journal of Criminal Justice. 38 (1): 160–181. doi:10.1007/s12103-012-9154-6. ISSN 1066-2316.
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(help) - ^ Ferguson, Christopher J. (2008-01). "The school shooting/violent video game link: causal relationship or moral panic?". Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. 5 (1–2): 25–37. doi:10.1002/jip.76. ISSN 1544-4759.
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(help) - ^ Mortensen, Torill Elvira; Linderoth, Jonas; Brown, Ashley ML, eds. (2015-06-05). The Dark Side of Game Play: Controversial Issues in Playful Environments (1 ed.). Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315738680-2. ISBN 978-1-315-73868-0.
- ^ Roleff, Tamara L., ed. (2002). Satanism. At issue. San Diego, Calif: Greenhaven Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-7377-0806-6.
- ^ Hughes, Sarah A. (2021). American Tabloid Media and the Satanic Panic, 1970-2000. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-83636-8. ISBN 978-3-030-83635-1.
- ^ Critcher, Chas (2008). "Moral Panic Analysis: Past, Present and Future". Sociology Compass. 2 (4): 1127–1144. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2008.00122.x. ISSN 1751-9020.
- ^ Staller, Karen M. (2003-06-01). "Constructing the Runaway Youth Problem: Boy Adventurers to Girl Prostitutes, 1960–1978". Journal of Communication. 53 (2): 330–346. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2003.tb02594.x. ISSN 0021-9916.
- ^ a b Crain, Maggie (2024). "Fear and Loathing in Animus: Moral Panic, the Contextualizing Tool for Challenging Gender-affirming Care Bans". SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.4675011. ISSN 1556-5068.
- ^ Waldron, David (2005-03). "Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right: Community Formation in Response to a Moral Panic". The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. 9 (1): 3–3. doi:10.3138/jrpc.9.1.003. ISSN 1703-289X.
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(help) - ^ Haberman, Clyde (2016-04-17). "When Dungeons & Dragons Set Off a 'Moral Panic'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ deYoung, Mary (1998-07). "Another look at moral panics: The case of satanic day care centers". Deviant Behavior. 19 (3): 257–278. doi:10.1080/01639625.1998.9968088. ISSN 0163-9625.
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(help) - ^ Murray, Susan B. (2001-11). "When a Scratch Becomes 'A Scary Story': The Social Construction of Micro Panics in Center-Based Child Care". The Sociological Review. 49 (4): 512–529. doi:10.1111/1467-954X.00345. ISSN 0038-0261.
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(help) - ^ Dowsett, Gary W. (2020-12-31), Herdt, Gilbert (ed.), "4. The "Gay Plague" Revisited: AIDS and Its Enduring Moral Panic", Moral Panics, Sex Panics, New York University Press, pp. 130–156, doi:10.18574/nyu/9780814790847.003.0007, ISBN 978-0-8147-9084-7, retrieved 2024-06-19
- ^ Dickinson, Roger (1990). "Beyond the Moral Panic: Aids, the Mass Media and Mass Communication Research". comm. 15 (1–2): 21–36. doi:10.1515/comm.1990.15.1-2.21. ISSN 0341-2059.
- ^ Welch, Michael; Price, Eric A.; Yankey, Nana (2002-09). "Moral Panic Over Youth Violence: Wilding and the Manufacture of Menace in the Media". Youth & Society. 34 (1): 3–30. doi:10.1177/0044118X02034001001. ISSN 0044-118X.
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(help) - ^ King, Mike (2015-04). "The 'knockout game': moral panic and the politics of white victimhood". Race & Class. 56 (4): 85–94. doi:10.1177/0306396814567411. ISSN 0306-3968.
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(help) - ^ Taylor, Nik; Signal, Tania, eds. (2011). Theorizing animals: re-thinking humanimal relations. Human-animal studies. Leiden ; Boston: Brill. pp. 107–128. ISBN 978-90-04-20242-9. OCLC 702940535.
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(help) - ^ Roland, Daniel (2013-07). "The Response of Mainline Protestant Clergy Members to the Moral Panic Regarding Harry Potter". Journal of Religious & Theological Information. 12 (3–4): 90–113. doi:10.1080/10477845.2013.840527. ISSN 1047-7845.
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(help) - ^ Potter, Roberto Hugh; Potter, Lyndy A. (2001). "The internet, cyberporn, and sexual exploitation of children: Media moral panics and urban myths for middle-class parents?". Sexuality and Culture. 5 (3): 31–48. doi:10.1007/s12119-001-1029-9. ISSN 1095-5143.
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- ^ Kuipers, Giselinde (2006-06). "The social construction of digital danger: debating, defusing and inflating the moral dangers of online humor and pornography in the Netherlands and the United States". New Media & Society. 8 (3): 379–400. doi:10.1177/1461444806061949. ISSN 1461-4448.
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(help) - ^ Kappeler, Victor E.; Kappeler, Aaron E. (2004-04-05), Deflem, Mathieu (ed.), "SPEAKING OF EVIL AND TERRORISM: THE POLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION OF A MORAL PANIC", Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 175–197, doi:10.1108/s1521-6136(2004)0000005012, ISBN 978-0-7623-1040-1, retrieved 2024-06-19
- ^ Rothe, Dawn; Muzzatti, Stephen L. (2004-11). "Enemies Everywhere: Terrorism, Moral Panic, and US Civil Society". Critical Criminology. 12 (3): 327–350. doi:10.1007/s10612-004-3879-6. ISSN 1205-8629.
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(help) - ^ Hamilton, Lesley Rae (2016). "Sex Trafficking Legislation Under the Scope of the Harm Principle and Moral Panic". UC Law Journal. 67 (2).
- ^ Haynes, Jason (2023). "Human Trafficking: Iconic Victims, Folk Devils and the Nationality and Borders Act 2022". The Modern Law Review. 86 (5): 1232–1264. doi:10.1111/1468-2230.12814. ISSN 0026-7961.
- ^ Cree, V. E.; Clapton, G.; Smith, M. (2014-03-01). "The Presentation of Child Trafficking in the UK: An Old and New Moral Panic?". British Journal of Social Work. 44 (2): 418–433. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcs120. ISSN 0045-3102.
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(help) - ^ a b Marwick, Alice E (2008-05-19). "To catch a predator? The MySpace moral panic". First Monday. doi:10.5210/fm.v13i6.2152. ISSN 1396-0466.
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- ^ Morán Faúndes, José Manuel (2019-07). "The geopolitics of moral panic: The influence of Argentinian neo-conservatism in the genesis of the discourse of 'gender ideology'". International Sociology. 34 (4): 402–417. doi:10.1177/0268580919856488. ISSN 0268-5809.
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(help) - ^ Careaga-Pérez, Gloria (2016-02-19). "Moral Panic and Gender Ideology in Latin America". Religion and Gender. 6 (2): 251–255. doi:10.18352/rg.10174. ISSN 2589-8051.
- ^ O’Brien, Mark (2023-01-02). "The coming of the storm: moral panics, social media and regulation in the QAnon era". Information & Communications Technology Law. 32 (1): 102–121. doi:10.1080/13600834.2022.2088064. ISSN 1360-0834.
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(help) - ^ Gill, Aisha K.; Day, Aviah Sarah (2020-11-30), Ramon, Shulamit; Lloyd, Michele; Penhale, Bridget (eds.), "Moral Panic in the Media: Scapegoating South Asian Men in Cases of Sexual Exploitation and Grooming", Gendered Domestic Violence and Abuse in Popular Culture, Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 171–197, doi:10.1108/978-1-83867-781-720201011, ISBN 978-1-83867-782-4
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- ^ Käkelä, Emmaleena (2023-08-16), "Hidden or hypervisible? Mapping the making of a moral panic over female genital mutilation/cutting", The Routledge Companion to Gender, Media and Violence (1 ed.), London: Routledge, pp. 116–126, doi:10.4324/9781003200871-13, ISBN 978-1-003-20087-1, retrieved 2024-06-19