It was the first book to define the social theory of moral panic.

Evidence

Folk Devils and Moral Panics (Wikipedia)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Folktales can escalate into moral panics in troubled times. — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 77; Moral panics arise from cultural strains caused by social change and serve as mechanisms of social control reinforcing existing power dynamics. — Moral Panic | Social Sciences and Humanities | Research Starters; Moral panics can produce long-lasting changes in society. — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 55 (+2 more)

Related

• 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 arise from cultural strains caused by social change and serve as mechanisms of social control reinforcing existing power dynamics. (similarity 0.84)
• Folk Devils and Moral Panics is a 1972 sociology book by Stanley Cohen — the first book to define the social concept. (similarity 0.83)
• Moral panics reflect deeper social tensions rather than real threats. (similarity 0.83)
• Even if a specific moral panic does not seem to leave immediate traces of routinization, its very happening may leave memories and cognitive deposits. (similarity 0.82)
• The term was coined by Stanley Cohen in his 1973 book Folk Devils and Moral Panics. (similarity 0.82)
• Fuelling moral panics and creating folk devils are blunt public health tools with potential for consequences that bludgeon the vulnerable. (similarity 0.82)
• A moral panic is a widespread fear, most often an irrational one, that someone or something is a threat to the values, safety, and interests of a community or society at large. (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 0.80)
• The creation of folk devils can kickstart a moral panic, with violent youth subcultures as the folk devils. (similarity 0.80)
• The concept of a permanent moral panic contradicts its definition. (similarity 0.80)
• Moral panic is a widespread fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values of a community, first theorized by Stanley Cohen in 1972. (similarity 0.79)
• Moral panics can produce long-lasting changes in society. (similarity 0.79)
• 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 0.79)
• Sometimes the panic passes over and is forgotten, except in folklore and collective memory; at other times it has more serious and long-lasting repercussions. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Moral panics can produce long-lasting changes in society. #expands (0.50) — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 55