Moral Panics The Social Construction of Deviance [Hardcover]

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

Preface and Acknowledgements viii

Prologue 1

1 Enter the Moral Panic 20

2 The Moral Panic: An Introduction 34

3 Three Theories of the Moral Panic 51

4 The Moral Panic Meets Its Critics 73

5 The Media Ignite and Embody the Moral Panic 88

6 Deviance, Morality, and Criminal Law 109

7 Collective Behavior 129

8 Social Movements 141

9 Social Problems 150

10 The Renaissance Witch Craze 168

11 Drug Abuse Panics 197

12 The Feminist Anti-Pornography Crusade 218

Epilogue: The Demise and Institutionalization of the Moral Panic 245

References 251

Author Index 270

Subject Index 275

This close reading of the facts behind a media story are the essence of Goode and Ben-Yehuda's work. They have taken the time and trouble to try and see what is a moral panic and what is tló&