Synopsis
Packed with new examples and material, this second edition provides a fully up-to-date exploration of the genesis, dynamics, and demise of moral panics and their impacts on the societies in which they take place. Packed with updated and recent examples including terrorism, the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Towers, school shootings, flag burning, and the early-2000s resurgence of the "sex slave" scare Includes a new chapter on the media, currently regarded as a major component of the moral panic Devotes a chapter to addressing criticisms of the first edition as well as the moral panics concept itself Written by long-established experts in the field Designed to fit both self-contained courses on moral panics and wider courses on deviance, From the Renaissance witch craze to the denunciation of horror comics and rock and roll in the 1950s and flag burning in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first century, institutions and groups of individuals have mobilized around issues where they feel threatened. This book introduces, describes, and analyzes the collective outbreaks of scares about threats or supposed threats from deviants or folk devils, a category of people who, some believe, engage in evil practices and are blamed for menacing the society s culture, way of life, and central values. Examining what motivates fear- and concern-inspired collective behavior, the second edition of Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance comprehensively updates this popular and highly-respected text, bringing in a host of new examples, and new chapters on the media and criticisms of the moral panics concept., Packed with new examples and material, this second edition provides a fully up-to-date exploration of the genesis, dynamics, and demise of moral panics and their impacts on the societies in which they take place.