Cohen's Moral Panic

Moral Panic is a condition, episode of a person, a group of people emerge as a threat to social values and interests, I.E. drugs, youths, and the MP's expenses scandal are all examples of a moral panic. The media creates "Folk Devils" these are groups if people that have been established as bad groups of people who are effecting the Moral Panic.

Moral Panic falls into to 5 categories

1. Concern - the behaviour of a group are represented as being a threat the requires our concern
2. Volatility - this is a short lived period. Panic erupts but is difficult to sustain. There are negative consequences for the rest of us
3. Hostility - "folk devils" constructed to create a division between 'them' and 'us'
4. Consensus - there is a widespread acceptance of threat posed by the group. This does not always reflect nation concern, but the campaigner will be very vocal whilst opposition will be weak and disorganised 
5. Disproportionality - there is a wild exaggeration of the evidence presented against the opposition - everything from the number of people involved to the scale of the problem is exaggerated to create a moral panic