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Sociology vocabulary · Deviance and Social Control

Moral panic

Meaning in sociology, with examples

nounCommon term

In sociology, moral panic means: An intense and often exaggerated public reaction to a group or behaviour that is presented, usually by the media, as a serious threat to society's values.

In Turkish: ahlaki panik, ahlak paniği

How it is used

From Stanley Cohen's Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972), a study of reactions to the mods and rockers in 1960s Britain. The groups that are blamed are called folk devils. The term is used in media, youth and crime studies.

Example sentences

  1. Cohen showed how newspaper coverage turned a few seaside fights into a moral panic.

  2. Some researchers describe fears about video games and violence as a moral panic.

Common collocations

  • create a moral panic
  • folk devils
  • media-driven moral panic
  • moral panic theory
  • devianceBehaviour, beliefs or characteristics that break the norms of a group or society and lead to disapproval or punishment, whether or not they are against the law.
  • labelling theoryThe theory that deviance is created when people with power successfully label certain acts or individuals as deviant, which can lead the labelled person to accept that identity.
  • social controlThe formal and informal ways a society encourages people to follow its norms and discourages deviance, from laws and the police to gossip and disapproval.
  • stereotypeA simplified and fixed belief about the characteristics of all members of a group, which ignores individual differences and is often negative.

More terms: Deviance and Social Control

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