LS263 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Social Constructionism, Anthropomorphism, Advocacy Group
Document Summary
Youths at the time had been constructed as youth devils. Youth became a broader concern about morality shifts. Moral panics are characterized by: concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionality, volatility. Moral panics need moral entrepreneurs: making claims about dangerousness of condition episode or group; moral crusade, no entrepreneur, no crusade , demand something to be done about conditions/behaviors/people in question. Moral panics revolve around folk devils : personification of the problem, stereotypes of deviance, outcasts; scapegoats. Folk devils are deviant stereotypes identifying the enemy, the source of the threat, selfish, evil wrongdoers who are responsible for the trouble (goode & Leads to sensitization of authorities and public: greater awareness of phenomenon may not mean actual increase of phenomenon. Due to sensitization public and/or police may find more hits of issue at hand: net widening effect (g & b-y p. 156) Media reports increase of hits as evidence of growth of problem: crime spree/crime wave reporting.
