Folk devils and moral panics

Abstract

Stanley Cohen established the concept of moral panic in 1972 (Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers), and subsequently diverse scholars have explored its relevance for different periods. Seven traits characterized moral panics: public concern; hostility; public consensus; exaggerated response; volatility; introspective soul-searching; and perception of the deviant behaviour as symptomatic of a broader malaise. Further research emphasized that moral panics were not monolithic, but comprised different types: grassroots; elite; and enforcement of existing laws. Throughout the twentieth century, women and youth became the focus of moral panics in the Boer War, World Wars I and II, the early 1950s and binge drinking several decades later. Review of these moral panics show how women who moved beyond existing gender spatial boundaries provoked criticism and escalating anxiety, culminating in the demonizing of offenders as “folk devils.”

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