ABSTRACT
The tendency to stereotype the youths was captured in the title – folk devils – while the other half of the title – moral panics – has become a widely used term in sociological analysis. S. Cohen was impressed by the degree of consensus in responding to the mods and rockers moral panic, that politicians, press, experts and public opinion were all pressing in the same direction. Indeed ‘culture wars’ have become part of contemporary politics and media, and among conservative media these are marked by attempts to manufacture ‘moral panics’, to mobilize outrage against those on the other side of the political spectrum. A recurring theme through the moral panic literature is the strong indignation towards the deviant behaviour. The range of phenomena to which the moral panics paradigm fruitfully lends itself is quite limited. Cohen’s work on moral panics is properly celebrated as a landmark study on media and scandals.
