Moral panic & folk devils

A moral panic is an intense feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order.

The Folk Devil

A folk devil is a person or group of people who are portrayed in the media as outsiders and deviant (abnormal), and who are blamed for crimes or other sorts of social problems.

Christopher Ferguson’s ‘Moral Panic Wheel’

The self-fulfilling prophesy of Stanley Cohen’s view on moral panics

The Folk Devil The pursuit of folk devils frequently intensifies into a mass movement that is called a moral panic. When a moral panic is in full swing, the folk devils are the subject of loosely organised but pervasive campaigns of hostility through gossip and the spreading of urban legends. The mass media sometimes get in on the act or attempt to create new folk devils to create controversies.

Sometimes the campaign against the folk devil influences a nation's politics and legislation.

In recent years, it is easy to see that Video Nasties and latterly gaming have both been viewed as ‘folk devils’ and therefore creating moral panics.