Moral panics recruit state agencies of social control to contain perceived threats

Evidence

This social anxiety contributed to the generation of “moral panics”—excessive waves of fear and apprehension among sections of the public about a perceived threat to society itself and, in reaction, the recruitment of the agencies of social control and wider political structures to deal with it. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1045

Categorization

• DEFINE: Definition of ‘moral panic’ — the concept Cohen coined and Hall operationalized.
• XREF: The learned example about the Lawrence case lacking elements for a moral panic and the ‘moral dimension of social reaction’ connects to Cohen’s concept here. — connects to: Behavioral control technology reached civilian society under cover of cold-war and crime panics — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1016