Moral panic comes from the late sixties and was used by sociologist and criminologist to describe an over exaggerated reaction to a type of behaviour that is seen as a threat to values and social problems. Sociologist, thus, used it discover abnormal subjects such as delinquency, youth cultures, subcultures and style as well as vandalism and drugs. Stanley Cohen stated that “moral panics are rather predictable” however, society scarcely notices the problem until is in black and white on the headlines of the news. The media takes small problem than makes seem as a massacre “warning sign of the real, much deeper and more prevalent condition” it could bring to light, when it’s rather not as problematic as media over exaggerates it to be. Moral …show more content…
panics strike when a “condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests” (Cohen, 1987:9). Society fears the unknown as its unpredictable and they have no control over it. However, society mainly focuses on the boundaries of morality but there’s little or no focus on why step outside the moral boundaries. Ian Marsh and Gaynor Melville argue that when it comes to the issues of moral panics and history, the relentless changes to the pattern in in society in the recent decade leads to more frequent moral panics. In order to understand the concept of moral panics it is crucial to explore the key features of the theory.
Morals, by definition, are enforced by public option with the help of media to enlighten ever problem. Becker’s focuses on how moral entrepreneurs have the responsibility to influence society to implement or sustain a norm. Political leaders consistently seek to shape civic morals by using legislations and social programs to structure social behaviour in a way that is recognised as moral standard. The two types of entrepreneurs Howard Becker used in his work; “rule creators” and Rule enforcers”. Rule creators; create the law based on one’s self-righteousness and their mission is to promote their sense of morality to society based their imitated knowledge, thereby defining and combating deviance as they presumed the goods for others. Whereas, the rule enforcers; enforce the laws created as well as maintaining peace and …show more content…
order. On the other hand, those in the upper social divisions of society are commonly dominated prosperous of moral crusades. Therefore, the crusaders must build; generate public awareness of an issue, must have power, have public support and be capable of emphasising a straightforward solution for moral panics as Becker noted in his work. Moral crusaders sway the public opinion by stating out environment panics and rely on the scientific expect to support their statements. Moral entrepreneurs find a way to spread panics through society using different forms. For instance, Stuart Hall argues, that the government creates the scapegoats of “young black muggers” which as a result creates moral panics amongst the public. The substantial mean for this is diverts attention away from other problems such as economics, unemployment etc. which are the current at the time. Capitalist’s main purpose is primarily to shape civic morals by determining the editorial slant of the news media that they own. As result thee government uses the moral panics as a projection that surrounds society. Similarly, the police force are recognised as enforcers of the criminal law. Their role is to inflict the new rules as part of their duty as the law is always changing, something that once was acceptable may now be punished and vice versa therefore, they enforce the rules rather then being concerned with the with the content of the rule. The enforcers must justify their role while they gain respect from the public and make sure they interact. However, they need to be effective in carrying their duty, but not show less of effectiveness to the extent that one might think they are failing to do their duty. Moral crusades, hide behind the media often as they create panics by labelling groups. Such group would be the ‘folk devil” which is the most influential study of moral panics by Cohen more or less on the way in which he has capture the impact on the social structure and the reaction towards this particular deviant group. Cohen used “folk devil and Mods and Rockers” to illustrates how society views moral panic. Society felt threated by this group, as their behaviour was demonstrated as deviance and threat to the norms of social order. In other words word, individuals who poses dissimilar are identified as social threats. Society indicates hostilities when there is a particular group who go against the social custom and the public creates clear division between themselves and the problematic group (Goode and Ben-Yehuda 1994, 34, original emphasis). As sociologists Thornton is one of many criminologist who have recognised that from 1960s onwards, society has endured major change.
According to her on the study of “the social logical of subculture capital”, Thornton and McRobbie argue that Cohen’s view of moral panics has changed in societies perspective and therefore, needs updating. The world is now more technologized media has greater plurality of views and individuals perception. Thornton and McRobbie (1995) continue o say this makes it ‘impossible to rely on the old models with their stages and cycles, universal media, monolithic societal or hegemonic
reactions’. Miller and kitzinger (1998: 216) correspond that the concept of “control culture” omits “distinctions between the media and the state, between the median and public belief and between the state and other social institutions and groups”. As Parton (1981) pointed out the publics’ attention is not something that happen automatic, it has to be achieved, as that is the job of the moral crusades.
Moral regulation has been – and still is – a very heated topic for discussion. In chapters two and three of his book, Governing Morals: A Social History of Moral Regulation, author Alan Hunt speaks of various social organizations and their different attempts at moral regulation projects from the late 18th to early 20th century. Although the two chapters flow into each other, and time turns from one century to the next, various and complex societal changes, and in turn, approaches to moral regulation are noted. Said changes to society and regulatory approaches include evolving civil associations, the incorporation of character and females into the social sphere, and shifts away from the church. As society changes, so does the approach to, and implication of, moral regulation projects.
The moral economy functions by enveloping individuals into systems of reciprocity that operate as a key to their daily survival. Bourgois and Schonberg document how these individuals constantly seek one another
“Moral panic has been defined as a situation in which public fears and state interventions greatly exceed the objective threat posed
Though the moral entrepreneur theory and the functionalist model of lawmaking can be similar is some aspects; the functionalist makes the most sense because of the reasoning why it is needed, the theory behind it wishes the reader to understand the
The conclusion presented by Nagel is that the theory of obligation can explain special features of public morality. Also those individuals can take steps to restrict certain choices. Nagel also concluded that the institutional structure shields indi...
The sociological concept of ‘moral panic’ is said to be used by the mass media in an attempt to entertain audiences. Cohen (1980: p. 9) suggests that a fear-provoking event or condition is covered by the media, with individuals who may have political agendas suggesting their own methods of prevention to the listening audiences (as cited in Altheide 2009, p. 79-80). Moral panic in relation to certain crimes can be seen as a possible explanation to the growing prison population. Chiricos (n.d.) furthers this notion by stating that “over the past fifteen years, the United States has had an expanding underclass, a declining crime rate and an exploding prison population” (p. 44). Thus, it seems possible to suggest that moral panic among citizens
Society is built and run on social and moral obligations and while these two are closely related, both impact cultures around the world in different ways. Marx’s Communist Manifesto and Mill’s On Liberty demonstrate the relationship these obligations have with successful and unsuccessful social constructs. For the purposes of this paper, a moral obligation is a consideration of what is right¬¬¬ and wrong and can vary depending on pressures from external sources such as religion, while a social obligation is a responsibility the individual has to act to benefit the best interests of their class as well as supporting the stability between society and the individual. Marx and Mill differ greatly in their opinions on the role and effects of both moral and social obligation, with Marx claiming that social obligation is one’s responsibility to one’s class and Mill claiming that it is one’s responsibility to further the society by expressing one’s own ideas because doing so is key to preventing society from becoming stagnant. Both authors also have differing views on moral obligation since Marx also claims that morality as a whole is a social construction used to oppress the Proletariat and that it is therefore invalid, whereas Mill claims that moral obligation is one’s debt to oneself to express their opinion, since not doing so would leave one’s character undeveloped.
Cultural criminology is a relatively new perspective and approach to understanding crime and deviance. Cultural criminology first began to develop in the 1990s and rapidly progressed in to a new field of criminology that is both influential and informative. The core concept of cultural criminology is built upon by using traditional approaches from different disciplines such as sociological studies, cultural studies, symbolic interactionism and many other disciplines, theories and methods. (Oxford bibliography Keith Hayward) Although it would seem that cultural criminology is nothing more than an interdisciplinary field, using only the studies and theories of some of the disciplines mentioned above - it actually does offer a new line of thought and individuality that other fields of criminology in the past did not. This is because instead of viewing crime objectively, it instead looks at crime subjectively by analysing the idiosyncrasies of the modern sociocultural environment. It offers an explanation of crime and deviance as a constructed result from either political, social or cultural actors and groups who commit crime, because of a shared sense of meaning, emotions, symbols, styles and even fashion within different subcultures. (Oxford bibliography Keith Hayward) Cultural Criminologists hope to explain and examine how the meaning of certain aspects of a subculture can play an active role in society and the construction of crime, not only by explaining why crime is committed, but also how crime is controlled. This essay will explain what cultural criminology is by using The 1989 Hillsborough disaster as an example in illustrating some of the research findings by cultural criminologists. There have been many different topic area...
In Western society and culture, religion and morality have often intertwined and they have reflected their values onto each other. Today it is sometimes impossible to make a distinction between the two, since their influence has transcended generations. In modern Western culture, religion and society preach conformity. In order to be a “good” person, one must conform to the values imposed by the church1 and state.
Some of the governing models of moral panics include Jock Young (1971) and Stanley Cohen (1972). Stanley Cohen fabricated the idea of moral panics in his book Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972), whilst Jock Young concentrated more on the correlation of deviance amplification and drug taking. The main feature of a moral panic is deviance amplification; this was looked at in more detail by Stanley Cohen (1972) in what he called the deviancy amplification spiral. Some examples of media moral panics include; internet pornography, violence in video games, immigration, single parents etc… Moral panics can affect the public’s perceptions of crime in many ways, making the ext... ... middle of paper ... ...
the term is used by Edwin Sutherland in Hensli’s book to indicate that “people who associate with some groups learn an ‘’excess of definitions” of deviance, increasing the likelihood that they will become deviant”. This theory also implies the fact that individuals who commit deviant acts are influenced by primary groups (family’s members) and intimate social contacts (friends). An adolescent growing up in a family with racial issues and racial hatred (have racist behavior) or in family where they have illegal activities such as selling drugs or criminal activities will be much more influenced until becoming the final product (racist, criminal or drug dealer) of these families. Contrary to the previous situation of an adolescent, others adolescent may not be affected because they restrained their desire to take the bad path. According to Foucault, “instead individuals are controlled by institutions. Contemporary society is characterized by the lack of free will on the part of individuals because institutions of knowledge, norms, and values, are in place to categorize and control humans”. In this situation, the external control composed of police officers or authority figures have more affect and influence while responding to the adolescents who behave outside of the norm. If they need to be punished, then the actions should be taken.
Societies can sometimes be exposed to periods of moral panic. A condition, episode, person or group of people appears as a threat to certain societal standards and interests. This phenomenon is depicted in a stylized and stereotypical fashion and presented to the public through the moral perspective of editors, bishops, politicians, and other influential people, whose principles define the societal values. These people pronounce their diagnoses and resort to certain ways of coping (although, sometimes, the parties can come to an agreement and a way of coping could evolve). After the condition disappears, submerges or deteriorates, it becomes even more visible. Every now and then the object of the panic is quite unusual, although mostly it is something that has been debated for a long time, but that suddenly appears in the spotlight. Occasionally, the episode is overlooked and forgotten, except in folk-lore and collective memory, but at other times it manages to create a serious impact, producing changes in legal and social policy or even in the way society conceives itself (Cohen, 2002).
A moral panic can be defined as a phenomenon, frequently initiated by disquieting media and reinforced by responsive laws and public policies, of embellished public concern, angst or anger over a perceived danger to societal order (Krinsky, 2013). The media plays a crucial role in emphasizing a current moral panic. In Jock Young’s chapter Images of Deviance (1971), he comments on the phenomenon of deviance magnification, he deems dramatic media coverage of deviant behaviours to be ironic, owing to the fact that it unintentionally increases rather than restrains the apparent deviance. In hind sight the media create social problems, owing to the fact that they can present them dramatically and are able to do it swiftly (Young & Cohen, 1971: 37).
From a sociological perspective, explanation for criminality is found in two levels which are the subculture and the structural explanations. The sociological explanations emphasize aspects of societal arrangements that are external to the actor and compelling. A sociological explanation is concerned with how the structure of a society, institutional practices or its persisting cultural themes affect the conduct of its members. Individual differences are denied or ignored, and the explanation of the overall collective behavior is sought in the patterning of social arrangements that is considered to be both outside the actor and prior to him (Sampson, 1985).
William O. Douglas said, "Common sense often makes good law." Well that is what laws essentially are, rules and regulations that make sure common sense is followed. One could even say that laws are enforced ethics. Laws serve several roles and functions in business and society, and this paper will discuss those roles and functions.