Theorists: Moral Panic

Theory Name: Moral Panic

Theorists Name: Stanley Cohen (1972)

Definition: A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. It raises alarm in people, by emphasising an event/incident is represented of a decline in standards or values, it views society as becoming more dangerous or more permissive.

Examples: Violent video games, swine flu, terrorists, immigrants. Moral panics implications on the Law include the ‘Video Recordings Act (1984)’. This gave the BBFC power to classify videos and make amendment and insisted BBFC took issues of 'harm' on broad when classifying films.

• Moral panic is when the media intensifies an event to refer its consequence as a much wider social issue
• A moral panic is movement against behaviour or perceived negative developments in society at large
• Horror films are more often of the centre of moral panics mainly due to horror films such as Chucky
• Mainly papers - daily mail, daily express, news of the world, sun, mirror are at the forefront of exploiting moral panic
• Appeals to a fragile post-war consensus. It states that morality today is not as strong as it once was, claiming that it was the ‘golden age’
• Politicians and campaigners use this panic to further their aims