When Does Moral Panics Occur - Coursework Example

Moral Panics Moral panic is a social phenomenon the outcome of which can be quite tragic. It is actually a state of panic created among a group of people who feel threatened by an act or any other factor which they consider unusual or dangerous for the safety of the society. Moral panic is not something new it has always been there since ancient times. The biggest example of moral panics is the witch hunt conducted in the 16th and the 17th century. People of that time largely believed in hearsay as a result of which many people lost their lives. Leaders use moral panic as a weapon to target a particular group; for example Hitler used this concept to spread anti-Jew feelings and the persecution of the Jews. Many government heads both in the ancient time and the modern age have used the same excuse to invade other countries. On a smaller scale instances of moral panics can be seen in the minority communities in Britain especially those belonging to the Indian Sub-Continent. Often fathers and brothers kill young girls if they refuse an arranged marriage or if they befriend some boy not from their religion (Joseph & Najambadi, 2003, p. 697). This act is seen by the men of the family as shameful and they think that the death of the deviant is the only solution of the problem. Goode & Ben-Yehuda (2009, p. 3) has best described moral panics as “an emotionally charged social phenomenon which causes fear and anxiety” while Krinsky (Ed) (2008) has defined moral panic as a sudden rise in public concern or an alarm about a group or a condition which seems to be dangerous and threatening. The dramatic and overreaction to certain events or groups of people was called Moral panic in 1972 by Stanley Cohen a British criminologist/sociologist who studied deviancy and its causes and introduced moral panics to a large audience. Cohen’s study was based on the street battle between Mods and Rockers; two rival youth subcultures in the 1960s and the reaction it got from the politicians, public, religious bodies and especially media. The group that was deviant and caused fear was dubbed by Cohen as folk devils while others including politicians, religious leaders and others tried to curb them by launching a “moral crusade”. Moral panics can break out on a large scale which involves the whole society or may emerge on a small local scale. Bonn (2010) has termed the US invasion of Iraq as the biggest example of mass deception. Bush created such a hype, to justify the invasion, he used the excuse that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was a threat to the world. Bush created a moral panic and deceived the Americans who then fully supported his motives. Bonn (2010) states that Bush knew for certain that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction but he only did this for oil and political domination. Bush’s act is a classic example of the “white collar crime” states Burke (2009). Burke (2009) also stated that other forms of white collar crimes prevalent in the society were environmental pollution, tax evasion, law evasion, price fixing, inadequate safety measures of the work place etc. The powerful elite commit these crimes and get away with them. To strengthen his point, Burke (2009) gave the example of the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal; the unfortunate accident claimed the lives of thousands of people. Union Carbide got away because India the country where the plant was set up did not have strict safety legislation or pollution control. Similarly one can find many products the use of which is otherwise banned in the developed nations being sold openly in the third world markets. Burke (2009) further stresses that the crimes of the working class paled in comparison to those committed by the elite power; it is just that the elite have the resources to justify their actions while the working class sadly does not. As Goode & Ben-Yehuda (2009) argue that moral panic is misused as a distraction; mostly the elite use it as a strategy to divert the attention of the masses from the actual problem. However not all panic cases are engineered; people do panic when they see or feel something unusual; it is just that the scale of the response often goes beyond the scale of the problem. A strange thing about moral panics is that it is temporary and is more present-centric and seldom takes into account the history or background of the process that feed into panics (Rohloff & Wright 2010). Macek (2006) is of the opinion that moral panics are means through which the social elite create scapegoats to hide their own inadequacies and blame the social evils in the society such as crime and instability on low working class and ethic groups. According to Burke (2009), critical criminology describes crime as the result of oppression. The ethnic minority groups, low income groups and women (single parents especially in low working groups) are the most oppressed class. Critical criminologist are of the view that in this circle crime is mostly because the mainstream institutions are beyond their reach and also because the law agencies and the media in general link crime with a particular group and label it as threat. In America alone there are more blacks in jails (Taylor, Walton & Young 1974) than in colleges. The critical criminologists are also of the opinion that in a positive light, crime indicates struggle against inequality. The critical criminologist blame the wide gap between the haves and the have nots as the reason of crime. They have proposed a “left idealism theory” that defies the law and order politics which blames specific groups within the ethnic minorities and the low working class (Burke 2009). Through this theory, the critical criminologists want the police and the judiciary to be impartial in their conduct. They believe that the law and order agencies should eliminate the use of force and show more sensitivity to the needs of a community and end racialism. They suggest social empowerment that is the involvement of the public through various mechanisms such as a “citizen’s review board” (Seigel 2011). Besides left idealism, Left Realism; a type of new criminology which is committed to transform social inequality; the root cause of crime also came into light. Moral Panics is also one of the most effective plans that the right wing utilizes for its values and policies (McRobbie 2004). The study of moral panics showed that it was more than just the reaction of crowds over incidents which were not according to the norms of the society. Actually it was much deeper; the study of moral panics added a new angle to criminology. Before the 1960s, it was considered that those who committed crimes had criminal mentalities. However from the 1950s onwards new question arose in people’s mind. The sociologist and the criminologist started thinking more on the lines as to what causes people to commit crimes. Criminology took a new identity and now the focus was more on the factors behind the crime. In-depth studies showed that crime was constructed socially and criminologist now began to study the process of the construction of crime (Lowman & MacLean 1992). The Liberal Theory an important aspect of critical criminology blames the social arrangements and the psychological and social welfare practices for the misconduct of man (Taylor, Walton & Young 1974). The Liberal theorist believe that under better circumstances, a person would behave differently. The radical theory is also based on the assumption that crime is a social problem. Radical theory does not see crime as a product of social inequality; it views it as a product of political economy which encourages intra and inter class struggle; that is competition between the wealthy and competition between the poor class as well as competition between the wealthy and the poor (Taylor, Walton & Young 1974)). This struggle and the exploitation of the people by the powerful gives rise to crime, poverty and inequality and injustice. The radical theory blames the deplorable conditions under which the poor are forced to live for the violent and brutal crimes they commit. In Taylor, Walton and Young’s (1974, p. 445) words, “It is not that man behaves (under capitalism) as an animal because of his nature: it is that he is not allowed fundamentally by virtue of the social arrangements of production to do so otherwise”. The motives of the crime are closely linked with the social arrangements of the time and if crime is to be abolished then the social arrangements must undergo changes themselves. (Taylor, Walton & Young 1973). The latest example of engineered moral panics is the fear of Moslems especially Arabs. In modern Australia the Arabs and other Arabs are now being seen as the “folk devils” (Poynting, Nobel, Tabar & Collins, p. 3). According to the authors the peaceful and law abiding communities of the Middle Eastern origin are constantly defamed by both the sensationalist media and the selfish attention seeking politicians who blame the entire community for some petty crimes committed by a handful of young members. Ever since the creation of video games; parents fear that the morals of their children are under threat. They claim the video games to be indecent and often a source of moral corruption. The Grand Auto Theft III is one game which got much negative publicity. In 2003, Dustin Lynch a 16 year old was charged with brutal murder; his attorney claimed that he was under the influence of the said video game. Another teenager was found to be guilty of murdering three people; he too was addicted to the said video game (Williams, date unknown). Even Senator Hillary Clinton has called the Grand Auto Theft game as “a major threat to the nation’s moral values”. However people argue that video games is not a social issue rather it should be the concern of the parents and whether they think it is right for their children or not. Grand Auto Theft is a popular game played by millions of children and to say that it negatively influences them is wrong. Parents should be more selective of what their children should play and not politicians. Many moral panics are about sex; the earliest moral panics on the record involved human trafficking with women being drugged and kidnapped to another country where they were later forced into prostitution. In America, a group of Asians were accused of committing this crime while in France, Jews were supposed to be behind the sex slave scandal. Both incidents had no real proof and were dismissed however the reputation of the minorities in both countries was badly affected. Homosexuality has also caused concerns in the society as has sexual offences against children. Goode & Ben-Yehuda (2009) mention the incidents of homosexuality between minors and adults were reported in 1950s in the American towns of Boise and Idaho; although the scandal was baseless and soon died down but dozens of people had been convicted and sent to prison by then. Another moral panic that gripped the United States in the seventies and eighties was that of Satan worshipping. There were some stories that Satan worshipping was being practiced and that created such a fear among people that they assumed that Satan worshipping was being done almost everywhere in the United States. People stopped sending their children to schools so that they would not come in contact with such people. Again in the eighties, parents became apprehensive that the game Dungeons and Dragons would corrupt the innocent minds of the children; they thought the game was evil and referred to the devil. Moral panics targeted against a particular group have resulted in deaths as well. After 9/11 incidence, the Moslems were attacked and even those bearing resemblance (beard or turban) came under attack. A Sikh man was beaten to death by some Americans who thought he was a Moslem. Terrorism has spread moral panic all over the world. A decade ago people would have found the very idea of body search and luggage search at the airports and railway stations and other public places as offensive but now due to the growing threat of terrorism nobody objects. Often people report anything abnormal they see to the authorities causing inconvenience to many innocent people. The powerful role of media in creating moral panics cannot be denied especially in the present day. As Krinsky (Ed) (2008) says moral panics of recent years are initiated and fueled by fear and the diverse media viewpoints. According to Burns (2010) the misconception that AIDS was due to Homosexuality was published in many newspapers in the late 1980s and was quite damaging for the gay community. Herdt (2011) states that when AIDS/HIV hit America in the 1980s, the homosexuals became the prime target of the Religious Rights who opposed gay parenting and same sex marriages. Any deviation from the normal is met with two types of reactions in the society; positive and negative. Unfortunately the media mostly covers the negative side and in this way sets off a false alarm causing people to panic. People usually show their insecurities by looting and plundering shops and damaging property. Burns (2010) states that the media largely blamed the video “Child’s Play III” for the tragic and brutal death of the two year old James Bulger by two ten year old boys. The thinking of the people is greatly influenced by the way it is presented by the media. Media both print as well as TV coverage sensationalizes the events. They make a mountain out of a molehill which according to Rowbotham & Stevenson (2003) creates frenzy among the public which leads to moral panics. Conclusion Moral panic occurs when a group of people finds something so shocking that they feel insecure and think of it as a threat. Most of the fears of the people are baseless but the way these events or a particular group of people are presented by the media causes the public to over react. Moral panics have resulted in the loss of property as well as the loss of life. The public in general is usually not ready to accept anything other than the normal and when they see a deviancy threatening the norms of the society, they protest. There are different aspects of moral panic; critical criminologists consider the oppression of a certain group or minority by the powerful as a form of moral panic as is labeling them as criminals. The minority and the low working class are often blamed for the lawlessness in the city and get convicted while the upper class gets away because of their wealth and social status. Critical criminologists are determined to put an end to this social injustice and inequality. They reject the traditional criminology which states that a deviant behaves that way because he is born with a criminal streak and instead claim that the social inequality, circumstances and the inaccessibility of the basic needs compel a person to commit crime. References Bonn, SA 2010, Mass Deception: Moral Panic and the U.S. War on Iraq, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. Burke HR 2009, An Introduction to Criminological Theory, UK: Willan Publishing. Burns H 2010, ‘What are Moral Panics?’ viewed 9 October, 2011, Goode, E & Ben-Yehuda, N 2009, Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance, UK: John Wiley and Sons, 2009 Herdt, GH 2011, Moral Panics, Sex Panics: Fear and the Fight over Sexual Rights, New York and London: New York University Press. Joseph, S & Najmabadi, A 2003, Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Culture: Family, Law and Politics, Netherlands: BRILL Publishers. 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