List of moral panics

Last updated

This is a list of events that fit the sociological definition of a moral panic.

Contents

In sociology, a moral panic is a period of increased and widespread societal concern over some group or issue, in which the public reaction to such group or issue is disproportional to its actual threat. 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 societies where 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

titleconcerncauseslocationtimerefs
Blood libelThe false idea that Jews engage in the kidnapping and murder of gentile childrenEurope [5]
Witch-hunts That some individuals with supernatural powers, "witches", were causing harm to people in their communitiesUnsubstantiated rumors and accusations of witchcraftEurope, North AmericaMiddle ages to the 1700s [6] [7]

19th century

titleconcerncauseslocationtimerefs
Anti-Catholic panicThat Catholics were conspiring against American interestsIncreased immigration of Catholics to the United States, pre-existing anti-Catholic attitudes, political tension between the U.S. and European powersUnited States1840s, 1850s [8] [6]
Garroting panic of the 1860sRobberies involving the practice of garrotingMedia coverage of garroting robberiesUnited States1860s [9] [10]
White slavery scareThe prostitution of White womenAllegations regarding the prostitution of White women by private businesses, release of Traffic in Souls United Kingdom, United States1880s (UK), early 1900s (US) [11] [12]

20th century

titleconcerncauseslocationtimerefs
Comic book panicThat comic books were negatively influencing young peoplePopularization of comic books among the youth, publication of Seduction of the Innocent United States1930s – 1950s [13] [14]
Sexual psychopath panicChild sexual offending by "sexual psychopaths", a contested psychological category of sex offenders [15] Sensationalistic media coverage of child sex crimesUnited States1930s – 1950s [15] [16]
Homosexual panicThat homosexuals were trying to "promote homosexuality" to society, including childrenUnited States, United Kingdom1950s – 1990s [17] [18]
Lavender scare That homosexuals were conspiring against American interestsSocietal tensions during the Cold War, the belief that homosexuals were sympathetic toward the Soviet Union United States1950s [12] [15]
Mods and rockers panicHooligan activities by the two youth groupsSensationalistic media coverage of the conflicts between the groups United Kingdom1960s [19] [2]
War on drugs Drug trafficking and consumptionIncrease of drug consumption in society, media alarmismGlobal1970s – present [4] [20]
Sex offender panicChild sex crimes perpetrated by sex offenders and pedophilesReoccurrence of high-profile child sexual abuse scandalsUnited States, United Kingdom1970s – present [21] [22] [16] [23]
Violent video games panicThat video games were influencing children into committing violent actsPopularization of violent video games among the youth, discredited psychological theories about gamesUnited States1970s – 1990s [24] [25]
Mugging panicMuggings in public streets, especially by young Black malesMedia alarmism, 1973 Birmingham mugging attackUnited Kingdom1970s [26]
Satanic panic That supposed Satanic cults were engaging in child sexual abuse ritualsUnsubstantiated Satanic ritual abuse rumors and allegations, tabloid journalismUnited States1980s [27] [28]
Missing children panicChild abduction by strangers in public places Murder of Adam Walsh, media sensationalismUnited States1980s [26] [29] [30]
Dungeons & Dragons panicThat some RPG table-top games, especially D&D, were leading young people into drug use and SatanismPopularization of mythical-themed role-play games, Christian and BADD activism, [31] other controversies United States1980s [32] [33]
Day-care sex-abuse hysteria That some day-care centers were engaging in Satanic child sexual abuseIncreased usage of day-cares among employed women with young childrenUnited States1980s – 1990s [34] [35]
AIDS panicAIDS dissemination, particularly by gay menAIDS pandemic of the 1980s, Conservative activismGlobal1980s – 1990s [36] [37]
"Wilding" panicPhysical and sexual assaults in public streets by ethnic youth gangs Rape of Trisha Meili, media sensationalismUnited States1989 – 1990s [38] [39]
Dangerous dogs panicDog attacks against humans, especially by pit bulls Sensationalistic media coverage of dog attacksUnited Kingdomlate 1980s – 1990s [40] [41] [42]
Harry Potter panicThat the book series was leading children into witchcraft and occultismThe novels' themes of magic and witchcraft, anti-occult activism against the seriesUnited States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia1990s – 2000s [43] [1]
Internet moral panicThe dissemination of legal and illegal pornography on the internet, online criminal activitiesPopularization of the Internet, media sensationalismGlobal1990s – 2000s [44] [45] [46] [47]
School shooting panic School shootings Increased media coverage of school shooting cases [48] United States1990s – present [49] [50]

21st century

titleconcerncauseslocationtimerefs
Islamic terrorism panicArab and Muslim terrorism September 11 attacks United StatesEarly 2000s [51] [52]
Human trafficking panic Sex trafficking and human trafficking Reoccurrence of high-profile human- and sex-trafficking scandalsUnited States, United Kingdom, Australia2000s – present [53] [54] [55] [56]
Internet predator panicSexting between adults and minors on the internetPopularization of social media among young people, misreadings of forensic statistics by mass media [57] [58] United States, United Kingdom2000s [57] [59] [58]
Gender ideology panicThat LGBT activists were introducing children to "gender ideology" in schoolsIncrease of neo-Conservative activism in Latin America since the 1980sLatin America2000s – 2010s [60] [61]
Blue Whale Challenge 2016[ citation needed ]
QAnon panicThat some politicians and celebrities engaged in Satanic child sexual abuse ritualsConspiracy theories fueled by social media algorithmsUnited States2010s [62] [63]
Anti-LGBT panic LGBT child grooming and genital mutilation of cisgender children by gender professionalsIncrease in the number of children identifying as LGBT, unsubstantiated theories spread by anti-LGBT activistsUnited States, Argentina, Brazil2010s – present [64] [30]
Teen use of smartphones and social mediaDepression, anxiety and suicide thought to be caused by use of social media and cell phonesIncreasing use of cell phone ownership by teens; publication of The Anxious Generation by Haidt in 2024.Global2010s – present [65] [66] [67] [68] [69] [70] [71] [72]

References

  1. 1 2 Soulliere, Danielle M. (2010). "Much Ado about Harry: Harry Potter and the Creation of a Moral Panic". The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. 22 (1): 6. doi:10.3138/jrpc.22.1.006. ISSN   1703-289X.
  2. 1 2 Jones, Paul (1997). "Moral Panic: The Legacy of Stan Cohen and Stuart Hall". Media International Australia. 85 (1): 6–16. doi:10.1177/1329878X9708500103. ISSN   1324-5325.
  3. 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.
  4. 1 2 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.
  5. Krzyzanowski, Lukasz; Zaremba, Marcin (2024). ""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.
  6. 1 2 Victor, Jeffrey S. (1994). "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.
  7. Koning, Niek (2013). "Witchcraft Beliefs and Witch Hunts: An Interdisciplinary Explanation". Human Nature. 24 (2): 158–181. doi:10.1007/s12110-013-9164-1. ISSN   1045-6767. PMID   23649744.
  8. 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
  9. 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.
  10. 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{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  11. Diffee, Christopher (2005). "Sex and the City: The White Slavery Scare and Social Governance in the Progressive Era". American Quarterly. 57 (2): 411–437. doi:10.1353/aq.2005.0025. ISSN   0003-0678. JSTOR   40068272.
  12. 1 2 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.
  13. 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.
  14. Shuker, Roy (1986). "Popular culture and moral panic: From comics to video nasties" (PDF). Access: Contemporary Issues in Education. 5 (2).
  15. 1 2 3 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
  16. 1 2 Jenkins, Philip (1998). Moral panic: changing concepts of the child molester in modern America. New Haven London: Yale University Press. pp. 49–74. ISBN   978-0-300-10963-4. JSTOR   j.ctt5hk0vf.
  17. Wise, Sue (2000). "'"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.
  18. 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.
  19. Grayson, Richard S. (1998). "Mods, Rockers and Juvenile delinquency in 1964: The government response". Contemporary British History. 12 (1): 19–47. doi:10.1080/13619469808581467. ISSN   1361-9462.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. Fox, Kathryn J. (2013). "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.
  24. Ferguson, Christopher J. (2008). "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.
  25. Mortensen, Torill Elvira; Linderoth, Jonas; Brown, Ashley ML, eds. (2015). 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.
  26. 1 2 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.
  27. Roleff, Tamara L., ed. (2002). Satanism. At issue. San Diego, Calif: Greenhaven Press. p. 91. ISBN   978-0-7377-0806-6.
  28. 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.
  29. 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.
  30. 1 2 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.
  31. Laycock, Joseph (2015). Dangerous games: what the moral panic over role-playing games says about play, religion, and imagined worlds. Oakland, California: University of California Press. pp. 51–75. ISBN   978-0-520-28491-3.
  32. Waldron, David (2005). "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. doi:10.3138/jrpc.9.1.003. ISSN   1703-289X.
  33. Haberman, Clyde (2016-04-17). "When Dungeons & Dragons Set Off a 'Moral Panic'". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-06-19.
  34. deYoung, Mary (1998). "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.
  35. Murray, Susan B. (2001). "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.
  36. 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
  37. 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.
  38. Welch, Michael; Price, Eric A.; Yankey, Nana (2002). "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.
  39. King, Mike (2015). "The 'knockout game': moral panic and the politics of white victimhood". Race & Class. 56 (4): 85–94. doi:10.1177/0306396814567411. ISSN   0306-3968.
  40. 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.
  41. Harding, Simon (2012-08-29). Unleashed: The phenomena of status dogs and weapon dogs. The Policy Press. doi:10.51952/9781447300281.ch003. ISBN   978-1-4473-0028-1.
  42. Hallsworth, Simon (2011). "Then they came for the dogs!". Crime, Law and Social Change. 55 (5): 391–403. doi:10.1007/s10611-011-9293-6. ISSN   0925-4994.
  43. Roland, Daniel (2013). "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.
  44. Gotell, Lise (2002). "Inverting Image and Reality: R. v. Sharpeand the Moral Panic Around Child Pornography". Equity Diversity Inclusion Community (EDI). doi:10.7939/R3B27PT67.
  45. 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.
  46. Evans, Mark; Butkus, Clarice M (1997). "Regulating the Emergent: Cyberporn and the Traditional Media". Media International Australia. 85 (1): 62–69. doi:10.1177/1329878X9708500110. ISSN   1324-5325.
  47. Kuipers, Giselinde (2006). "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.
  48. Killingbeck, Donna (2001). "THE ROLE OF TELEVISION NEWS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE AS A "MORAL PANIC"". Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture. 8 (3): 186–202.
  49. Schildkraut, Jaclyn; Elsass, H. Jaymi; Stafford, Mark C. (2015-03-01). "Could it happen here? Moral panic, school shootings, and fear of crime among college students". Crime, Law and Social Change. 63 (1): 91–110. doi:10.1007/s10611-015-9552-z. ISSN   1573-0751.
  50. Elsass, H. Jaymi; Schildkraut, Jaclyn; Haenfler, Ross; Klocke, Brian V.; Madfis, Eric; Muschert, Glenn W. (2021). "Moral Panic, Fear of Crime, and School Shootings: Does Location Matter?". Sociological Inquiry. 91 (2): 426–454. doi:10.1111/soin.12407. ISSN   0038-0245.
  51. 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
  52. Rothe, Dawn; Muzzatti, Stephen L. (2004). "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.
  53. Hamilton, Lesley Rae (2016). "Sex Trafficking Legislation Under the Scope of the Harm Principle and Moral Panic". UC Law Journal. 67 (2).
  54. 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.
  55. 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. hdl: 20.500.11820/c971e4d9-8fcf-4883-aa0c-d845a6bbd016 . ISSN   0045-3102.
  56. Dagistanli, Selda; Milivojevic, Sanja (2013). "Appropriating the rights of women: Moral panics, victims and exclusionary agendas in domestic and cross-borders sex crimes". Women's Studies International Forum. 40: 230–242. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2013.09.001.
  57. 1 2 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.
  58. 1 2 RADFORD, BENJAMIN (2006). "Predator Panic: A Closer Look" (PDF). Skeptical Inquirer .
  59. Quayle, Ethel (2015-06-30), Cree, Viviene E.; Clapton, Gary; Smith, Mark (eds.), "Internet risk research and child sexual abuse: a misdirected moral panic?", Revisiting Moral Panics, Policy Press, pp. 103–112, doi:10.51952/9781447321873.ch009, ISBN   978-1-4473-2187-3 , retrieved 2024-06-21
  60. Morán Faúndes, José Manuel (2019). "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.
  61. 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.
  62. 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.
  63. Hearst, Megan (2022). "QAnon and the Rebirth of the Satanic Panic in the Digital Age". Georgetown University. doi:10.57928/MYYD-J277. hdl:10822/1080173.
  64. 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
  65. Christopher Ferguson (2024-05-09). "The new moral panic: Social media". The Hill. Archived from the original on 2025-01-13. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
  66. Greenfield, Beth. "Teen social media use — crisis or moral panic?". Fortune Well. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
  67. "A Brief History of Moral Panics About Kids and Media". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
  68. Lumby, Catharine (2017-08-10). "Enough with the moral panic over smartphones. The kids are all right". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2025-02-05.
  69. Rao, Neomi; Lingam, Lakshmi (January 2021). "Smartphones, youth and moral panics: Exploring print and online media narratives in India". Mobile Media & Communication. 9 (1): 128–148. doi:10.1177/2050157920922262. ISSN   2050-1579.
  70. Malik, Nesrine (2019-01-07). "Don't fall for the moral panic over children's screen time". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2025-02-05.
  71. Matters, EduResearch (2024-09-15). "Is the social media ban a moral panic?". EduResearch Matters. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
  72. "The Moral Panic Over Smartphones Takes on Satanic Overtones". Office for Science and Society. Retrieved 2025-02-05.

Sources