Moral Panics and Activism

Moral Entrepreneurs are the agents that willfully create deviance:  “The crusader is fervent and righteous, often self-righteous”(Howard Becker 1963, 148).

Moral Panics

1.  Concern

2.  Hostility

3.  Consensus

4.  Disproportionality

   5. Sudden eruption

Moral Panics (Stanley Cohen 1967)

Actors in the Drama of Moral Panics

1.  The Press

2.  The Public

3.  Agents of Social Control (e.g. Law enforcement)

4.  Politicians and Legislators

5.  Action Groups

Goode adds

+ Folk Devils

+ Disaster Analogy

Indicators of the Moral Panic

1.  Concern

2.  Hostility

3.  Consensus

4.  Disproportionality

5.  Sudden eruption

Activism on the internet

MADD

• http://www.madd.org/activism/0,1056,4225,00.html#pre_employment

Mad at MADD

• http://www.talkleft.com/archives/001908.html
• http://www.duigulag.com/agenda.htm

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)

• http://www.rwjf.org/index.jsp

Responses:

• http://www.californiawineandfood.com/wine/prohibition-drip-by-drip.htm

Instead of using Lady Diana as a negative example for what happens if you do not wear a seat belt, anti-alcohol activists receive support:

• http://search.csmonitor.com/durable/1997/09/03/us/us.1.html

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Disclaimer: The documents linked to other sources on the WWW, others than http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/Schneider/ and its subdirectories, do not necessarily express the views of Texas Tech University or Dr. Andreas Schneider. @Copyright 2005 Andreas Schneider