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How Cohen’s (1987) concept of “moral panic” contributed to understanding of the relationship between crime, the media and young people.
Moral panic refers to the way a feeling is expressed in a population concerning a certain issue that seems to cause a threat in the order of society. According to Cohen (1987), moral panic happens when a certain condition, event, individual or a group is seen as a defined threat to the values and interests of the society. Moral entrepreneurs are those individuals who start up the panic by implying a certain threat will occur in social or cultural values of the community, while folk devils are those people who cause threats to the orders of the society. There are conditions necessary for moral panic and they include concern of the conduct, or events that have caused anxiety, the hostility of the participants, the reactions from the social community, the threat possessed by the conduct and the reporting by the media, which leads to sudden panic within the community. According to research, the media have always worked as agents of moral indignation even at the time when they were not self-consciously connected in spreading or muckraking (Cohen & Jock, 1981). Reporting the facts is perceived to be enough to cause concern, anxiety or panic.
Generally, moral panic is defined as the over-expressed reactions especially from the media, the police force, or the larger community to the practices of specific social groups (Clinton 2000). The practices may be relatively trivial although may have been reported in a much more sensitive form in the media, hence such reporting and publicity leading to increase in overall anxiety and concern about those practices. Therefore, moral panic occurs when a society overreacts over a certain behavior that is viewed to be a social problem especially by the media and other public institutions. The act of exaggerated reaction demonstrates the real cause of concern, leading that smaller social group and their behaviors being viewed as the folk devils by the larger society. Thus, through Cohen’s concept of moral panic, understanding the relationship between crime, media and young people is plausible because he gives a clear explanation of the concept, and what makes the media overreact over certain issues by young people especially issues to do with crime.
Cohen’s concept of moral panic aimed at providing sociological explanation for a specific and urgent concern such as the behavior of young people. According to Cohen, moral panic is mostly caused by the media in that the media is always ready to report a condition, an event or a person to be a threat to the values of society as well as its interests (1987). Unfortunately, after a short time, the ways provided for coping with the situation disappear, submerge or decrease and become invisible (Cohen & Jock, 1981). In most cases, the crime leading to the panic may have been in existence for quite some time but it appears abruptly in the light for the public to see.
In some situations, the crime may be forgotten or passed over except to some few individuals with good memories. Furthermore, the panic may have been serious and may have resulted in never ending consequences that lead to changes as those in legal and social policy, and to make matters worse, may change the way people perceive the society as a whole (Chibnall, 1991). Therefore, the concept of moral panic by Cohen demonstrates that a certain crime committed by young people may be in existence without the knowledge of the larger society. However, once the media realizes such a crime, it immediately reports it or spreads it out to the public in a much-exaggerated manner that leaves the society in panic of such a threat.
Research shows the availability of ever-recurring moral panics especially over several ways in the cultures of the young people, where their actions have been termed as deviant (Krinsky 2008). This has led to the group of young people to be perceived as a unique social group in terms of both their behavior and their general lifestyle. However, the panic resulting from such a group in most cases is passed on and forgotten immediately. For instance, according to Cohen, young people may decide to dress in a certain way that causes panic to the society, which may lead to newspaper reporters referring to such a social group as that dealing in certain illegal or criminal activities, but this may only last for a few years as long as the fashion lasts (Cohen & Jock, 1981). However, when another fashion season comes, such dress style that caused panic may be forgotten.
To expound on this, Cohen states, “Rockers was never known, but a few years later, a newspaper editor was to refer to the Rockers incidents as ‘without parallel in English history’, and the group was sent to quell for possible widespread crimes” (1987). Currently, these groups have all been forgotten and disappeared from the consciousness of the public. Therefore, this shows that young people are bound to engage in some activities that may seem criminal in nature, or to violate the social order of the society, but this is always caused by peer pressure or the curiosity to learn. With time, young people change their behaviors, reducing the rate of panic caused by the media. This also means that the relationship between the media, crime and young people is very strong because each group’s behavior leads to the other.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics and NationalCenter for Education Statistics (1999), the media is viewed as the cause of moral indignation in their own right although in most cases they are never involved in the crusading. Rather, it is the way they report particular issues or ideas, that is always good enough to cause concern, anxiety or panic to the public. It has been argued that the media imagery develops apparent increase in the rate of deviance, hence leading to moral panic that justifies authoritarian law and order policies, which are mostly the results of respectable fears of the public. This is also likely to reinforce the deviant identity, hence leading to more crimes in the future. According to (Jewkes 2004), moral panic is one way of the communication process of the media. Lack of access is provided to the self-appointed moral guiding and counselors of the society.
The deviants own accounts are rarely heard but rather are demonstrated by the discourses of more powerful groups such as police officers, judges and magistrates, who provide a mandate as the moral guardians of society and are referred to as the hierarchy of access to the media. The concept reveals that the media in all cases acts as the principal, dominant channel of communication and establishment of meaning in a developed society (Critcher 2009). Therefore, because of lack of access to the media representations, the public has no choice but to accept the news provided concerning a certain issue, which may cause panic until the necessary actions have been taken to solve it.
From the presentation made by Goode (2009) on moral panic especially on the way media overreacts to a certain issue, the young people, in most cases, have the tendency of identifying themselves and reinforcing the image with which they were labeled by the media. Though this actions taken by young people, more crimes are likely to be committed because this social group accepts the identity given to them in a much more stable and resistant way thus tend to perform more crimes, hence increase in moral panic by the public (Burette1992). Furthermore, the relationship is more enhanced by the idea that the overreaction image by the media holds the views of the public on the deviant or crime, labeling the participants or destructors of social values and orders as threatening and dangerous.
Both the public and media labeling of this social group causes the victims to feel discriminated and unwanted by the criminal justice system and the public at large (Cohen, 1987). This always leads to wrongful arrests, unnecessary observation by the police force, and heavy sentencing in jails. Therefore, the young people who participated in committing small crimes or acts of deviance most often are taken into the criminal justice system, which in most cases is not necessary. Therefore, because of moral panic in the public due to the announcement of a certain crime, young people are always the victims of blame in such incidents. Therefore, in case of any panic, any youth suspected is bound to face the criminal justice system whether the crime committed was major or minor, for further assessment.
According to Bilchik (1999), crime news tends to take a bigger part of the entire news broadcast. This means that a cycle of a particular one type of news will continue to be defined as news for a long time by the media. Moreover, because most people view news as something which is extraordinary, violent crime may be viewed as more newsworthy since it happens less frequently. It is noted that most media crime wave news are prolonged in order to help the media impact the policy by creating public panic thus influencing everything ranging from imprisonment , seeking preventive measures, up to creating fear or panic to the society (Bessant & Hil 1997). In addition, by concentrating more on crime news, other important issues do not get an opportunity to become news hence not able to capture the attention from the public, cause any fear or concern, or even get resources.
Consideration of the relationship between crime, media, and the young people is in most cases very significant, dynamic, and difficult (Altheide 2009). This comprises of mass media groups, sources, and the public, which acts as the audience that exists within a diverse cultural and social system. Therefore, to understand this relationship better, the role of the media in the establishment of moral panic is very significant and important. This can be illustrated by the historical representation of criminals and crime in media sources such as televisions.
According Hall (1998), characterization of the reactions of the media, the society and agents of social control to the young people’s disturbances is clearly shown to create a more understanding on the relationship between the crime, media, and young people. The role of media in the advancement of deviance leads to the ideological function of the media developing meaning, rather than simply reflecting a shared meaning. Thus, in case there is a discussion concerning statistics revealing a current alarming increasing rate in drug abuse, the moral panic over drug abuse leads to police drug squads that in turn cause an increase in drug related arrests.
Conclusion
In conclusion, moral panic is the way different people express their feelings in a population concerning a specific situation that causes threat in the order of the society or the social interest of a society. It occurs when a certain condition, event, an individual or a group is seen as a defined threat to the values of the society and interests. The conditions necessary for moral panic involve concern, which means that there is presence of a conduct, or events that have caused anxiety due to the reports made by either the media or other sources such as the police force. Another condition includes the hostility of the participants . The reactions from the social community, the threat posed by the conduct and the media reporting leads to sudden panic within the community.
Examples of these threats may include increasing rates in drug abuse by the young people, high rates of theft activities, and increased crime rates such as murder, rape, or robbery. Moral entrepreneurs are those individuals who start up the panic by implying a certain threat to occur in social or cultural values of the community, while the folk devils are those people who cause threats to the orders of the society. Both the public and media labeling of this social group causes the victims to feel discriminated and unwanted by the criminal justice system and the public at large. This always leads to wrongful arrests, unnecessary observation by the police force, and heavy sentencing in jails. Therefore, the young people who participated in committing small crimes or acts of deviance most often are taken into the criminal justice system, which in most cases is not necessary.
Reference
Altheide, D 2009, ‘Moral Panic: From Sociological Concept to Public Discourse’, Crime, Media and Culture, vol 5:1, pp79-99.
Bessant, J. & Hil, R 1997, Youth, Crime and the Media, National
Clearinghouse for Youth Studies, New YorkNY: Hobart Publishers.
Bilchik, S 1999, “Violence after School.” Washington, DC: Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Retrieved August 19, 2001 http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/9911_1/contents.html.
Bureau of Justice Statistics and NationalCenter for Education Statistics, 1999 “Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 1998.” Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved August 19, 2001 .
Burette, R, 1992, Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice: Images and Realities, California, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.
Chibnall, S., 1991, “The Production of Knowledge by Crime Reporters.” In The Manufacture of News: Deviance, Social Problem, and the Mass Media, edited by S. Cohen and J. Young. Newbury Park, California: Sage.
Clinton, W J., 2000, “New Initiatives Announced at the White House Conference on School Safety.” Safe and Drug Free Schools Program. Retrieved August 19, 2001 ).
Cohen, S, 1987, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers (New Edition), Oxford, UK: Martin Robertson.
Cohen, S, & Jock, Y, (Eds.), 1981, The Manufacture of News: Deviance, Social Problem, and the Mass Media. Newbury Park, California: Sage.
Critcher, C 2009, ‘Widening the Focus: Moral Panics as Moral regulation’, British
Journal of Criminology, vol 49, pp17-34
Goode, E 2009, Moral panics: the social construction of deviance, Boston, MA: John Wiley and Sons.
Hall, S, 1998, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order,
London: Macmillan.
Jewkes, Y, 2004, Media and crime, New York, NY: Sage.
Krinsky, C, 2008, Moral panics over contemporary children and youth, New York, NY: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
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