Moral panics in a risk society : a critical evaluation.

Bibliography: p. 34-37

The concept of 'moral panic' is a familiar one in academic studies of crime, deviance and disorder. It refers to public and political reactions to minority or marginalised individuals and groups who appear to be some kind of threat to societal values and interests. The reaction is predominantly media-led; the mass media - usually the press - will define a group or act as 'deviant' and focus on it to the exclusion of almost everything else. Broadly speaking, there are three types of people who may be labelled 'deviant' by the mass media: those who commit serious criminal acts, such as muggers and rioters; those whose behaviour strays from organisational procedures or who break conventional codes of conduct in the workplace, such as strikers, picketers and company defrauders, and those who adopt patterns of behaviour, styles of dress or ways of presenting themselves which are different to the 'norm'