Media Reporting of Crime: Moral Panics (AQA GCSE Sociology)

Folk devil

• Stanley Cohen (1972) argues that the media reporting of crime causes moral panic

• A moral panic involves exaggerating the extent and significance of a social problem, such as

  • The influence of Drill music (a subgenre of hip-hop music) on gang culture

  • Violence in the media, e.g. computer games and films

  • Anti-social behaviour or hoodie-wearing youths

  • The level of knife crime among youths in London

• One significant feature of a moral panic is the stereotypical portrayal of a specific group as a 'folk devil' who poses a threat to the values of society, such as

  • migrants

  • refugees

  • single mothers

  • benefit cheats

  • youth offenders

• Folk devils then become scapegoats who are blamed for society's problems

The mods and rockers

• Cohen undertook a case study researching the fights between two youth subcultures: the mods and rockers

  • The fights between these groups took place mainly in English seaside resorts on bank holidays

• Cohen was particularly interested in studying the moral panic surrounding the events in 1964 in Clacton

  • Groups of bored young people started fighting on pavements and throwing stones at each other

• The incidents described by Cohen were in the newspapers the next day

  • The media exaggerated the seriousness of the events in terms of:

    • the number of young people taking part

    • the numbers involved in violence

    • the amount and effects of any damage or violence

• Cohen argued that when the media reports on deviant behaviour, they construct a narrative which features a clear villain

  • In this case, the mods and rockers were cast as folk devils, which started a moral panic

Deviancy amplification

• Cohen argued that the media sensationalised and distorted the events (described above), which created a false image of young people and their behaviour

  • He described this as deviancy amplification

  • This amplification encouraged other young people to behave in the way portrayed by the media

  • A small altercation became more widespread as a result of the media's exaggeration

  • This resulted in a moral panic

• People reading newspapers and watching the news on TV began to see the mods and rockers as a threat to law and order

  • The police acted harshly due to the public outcry, and this led to further arrests

• Cohen's point is that the media amplifies deviance and causes more deviant behaviour

  • A more recent example is the London riots in 2011, where more people joined in the riots to have their 'five minutes of fame'