Fuelling moral panics and creating folk devils are blunt public health tools with potential for consequences that bludgeon the vulnerable.

Evidence

On Folk Devils, Moral Panics and New Wave Public Health (International Journal of Health Policy and Management)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: The Lawrence case lacked essential elements for a moral panic. — Cohen, Stanley, Folk devils and moral panics: the…, 40; Folktales can escalate into moral panics in troubled times. — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 77; The creation of folk devils can kickstart a moral panic, with violent youth subcultures as the folk devils. — Folk Devils and Moral Panics (Cohen 1972) (+5 more)

Related

• The creation of folk devils can kickstart a moral panic, with violent youth subcultures as the folk devils. (similarity 0.89)
• In his study, the folk devils were the violent youth subcultures, ‘mods and rockers’. The creation of folk devils can kickstart a moral panic. (similarity 0.86)
• Moral panics are characterized by an exaggerated, stylized folk devil perceived as threatening the social order, which attracts public hostility. (similarity 0.85)
• Moral panics reflect deeper social tensions rather than real threats. (similarity 0.84)
• The Witch Trials exemplify how a minority group can be identified as folk devils to generate fear and social control. (similarity 0.83)
• It was the first book to define the social theory of moral panic. (similarity 0.82)
• Cohen documented moral panics as sudden threats or disorders involving mass hysteria, delusion, and panic. (similarity 0.82)
• The term was coined by Stanley Cohen in his 1973 book Folk Devils and Moral Panics. (similarity 0.81)
• Moral panic is a social phenomenon where a group is portrayed as a significant threat to societal values, resulting in heightened fear and the push for new legislation. (similarity 0.80)
• Stanley Cohen showed how a small event can grow into a national moral crisis through media exaggeration, public fear, and official control measures. (similarity 0.80)
• A moral panic sometimes passes over and is forgotten, except in folklore and collective memory. (similarity 0.80)
• The concept of a permanent moral panic contradicts its definition. (similarity 0.80)
• Sociologists have shown that young people are often rendered societal ‘folk devils’—portrayed as rejecting traditional values, and thus as a threat to the social order. (similarity 0.80)
• Cohen (1972, p. 9) defined moral panic as a condition where a group emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests, presented in a stylized way by mass media. (similarity 0.79)
• Moral panics are often rooted in political struggles over values. (similarity 0.79)