Political and economic crises are resolved through manufactured fear of racialized criminals

Evidence

Stuart Hall et al., in their pioneering book Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order, analyzed the fear generated towards racialized subjects. Methodologically, this book employs a similar approach. Using a historical materialist mode of analysis, Hall and his collaborators examined the legal arena, the police, and the media in the construction of a moral panic around the black “mugger” in early 1970s in the UK. They argued that the economic crisis of the time was solved by “law and order” solutions that were based on generating fear towards black criminals. The new project of racial formation involved a focus on the “mugger” coded as a security threat. Even though the crime known as mugging did not increase, a moral panic was generated to justify policing measures. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 81

Categorization

• XREF: Directly extends the moral panic framework already in my knowledge base (Cohen, the rejected Lawrence case, and the goon-squad style policing literature); the 1970s UK ‘mugger’ panic parallels the 2000s ‘terrorist’ panic. — connects to: Moral panics about racialized criminals resolve economic crises via law-and-order solutions — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 93; White fear of Black criminality became a political resource after the Civil Rights era — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 819; Moral panics substitute law-and-order fear for addressing economic crises (+4 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies moral panic as a historically materialist, state-driven mechanism (not spontaneous public fear) — the framework this entire book runs on.

Broader Connections

• Moral panics about racialized criminals resolve economic crises via law-and-order solutions #corroborates (0.92) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 93
• Moral panics substitute law-and-order fear for addressing economic crises #corroborates (0.85)
• Racial panic actively manufactures enemies the state can mobilize against #expands (0.78) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 311
• White fear of Black criminality became a political resource after the Civil Rights era #corroborates (0.75) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 819
• Economic crisis birthed twin racial projects criminalizing blacks and Arabs #expands (0.72) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 237