Talk:Moral panic

About sources

Always add sources. For this article, only add sources if they are scholarly and are in the tradition of the study of moral panics. Do not add any source simply because it uses the words "moral panic". AllGloryToTheHypnotoad (talk) 17:36, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

I've removed a few other recent additions based on this. I agree that it's untenable to turn the page into a catalog of every time any news or opinion piece has used the term "moral panic" to refer to anything at all - the list is supposed to cover notable examples, and I think the appropriate bar for that should be academic coverage (or similarly high-quality coverage) that unambiguously relates it to Cohen's research or to other researchers who have studied the topic. --Aquillion (talk) 05:43, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

Agreed. There's especially a tendency to use the term "moral panic" to denigrate a social phenomenon, without any apparent awareness of what the term means. Ironic, that... sort of a moral panic about moral panics. :-) AllGloryToTheHypnotoad (talk) 19:37, 4 June 2021 (UTC)

Mass shootings

The section on mass shootings is a little strange, it does not seem to tie in to the definitions of moral panics provided in the article. And they are an undoubted rational source of concern, given their frequency and lethality, certainly more so than, say, Islamist terrorism. Is there a source which defines them as a moral panic? Boynamedsue (talk) 10:49, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Doesn't seem so. Feel free to be bold and delete any section that doesn't explicitly explain how something is a moral panic by utilizing the definitions set up by Cohen. AllGloryToTheHypnotoad (talk) 21:20, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

Social and mainstream media shitstorms

The article is peculiarly only listing right-wing moral panic incidents. But the left-wing ones are increasing, many of these include accusations of racism, sexism or other 'isms. There are very many examples of companies, cultural customs, place names, statues etc. accused of being offensive or contrary to modern, humanist norms. Not all of these discussions, but certainly some of them, evolve into moral panic situations, including smearing one's opponents and promoting radical interpretations of the issue. And obviously, some will disagree, but the examples mentioned in the article will also divide people. Being polemic is an intrinsic part of moral panic. (I know the word "shitstorm" mostly from Germany, but it appears to be also sometimes used in English. Is there a better word?) --Sasper (talk) 02:58, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

• Be bold and add examples if you have reliable sources to back them up. Trilobright (talk) 22:55, 7 April 2021 (UTC)
  • And if those reliable sources show that those examples meet the criteria set forth by Cohen as stated in the article (see Cohen's stages of moral panic). Johnnie Bob (talk) 01:29, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

Cohen's stages

The National Institutes of Health have a paper about this worded as follows: [1]

1. An event, condition, episode or someone is defined as a threat to the values, safety and interest of the wider society.
2. The media then amplifies these apparent threats through inflammatory rhetoric These portrayals appeal to public prejudices, creating villains in need of social control (folk devils) and victims (the moral majority).
3. The publicity surrounding the threat creates a sense of social anxiety leading to a public outpouring of concern.
4. Government then responds to the public outcry and frames the alleged threat as being symptomatic of a wider social malaise that must be addressed.
5. The moral panic and the responses to it transform the regulation of economy and society with the aim of tempering public outrage.

Probably a little more descriptive and accurate view of the process.Progressingamerica (talk) 04:31, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

That is not an article of the United States National Institute of Health, but merely made accessible through PubMed, their database of public articles from medical journals. The affiliation of the two authors is Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham, UK and Faculty of Health Studies, University of Bradford, UK. It is more of an opinion piece than a scientific article. (Very evident from their critique of "neoliberal" policies already in the introduction.) I think they have interesting points, but it is obviously about specific health policy issues – when diseases are being over-exposed and turn into a moral panic. Obesity is their prime example. --Sasper (talk) 07:24, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

Thank you for letting me know of the opinion-nature of this. Progressingamerica (talk) 13:27, 30 March 2021 (UTC)

The list given leaves out moral entrepreneurs, which iirc are an important part of the development of the moral panic. As for the noted non-neutral language of that article, if so then it's better to skip that article entirely and stick with a good short summary of Cohen instead. AllGloryToTheHypnotoad (talk) 21:13, 7 April 2021 (UTC)

Suggestion to add section: "Reaction to Covid-19 as Moral Panic".

Title: Reaction to Covid-19 (2019–present)

Fear of Covid-19 pandemic that was followed by governmental policy was postulated to result in global economic recession. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Infection Fatality Rate for Covid-19 is around 0.5-1%, describing the true severity of a disease. Accordingly, fear of losses, and potential burden on health system have lead governments around the world to impose policies (e.g., lockdowns, tests for Covid-19) that are likely to cause worldwide economic recession.--192.114.3.241 (talk) 05:45, 11 August 2021 (UTC)

Explanation: According to definition of moral panic it does not have to be irrational. Accordingly, HIV, Islamic terror, Human traffic, sex offenders are described in this Wikipage. Thus, fear of Covid-19 can be also a Moral panic. It would be great to read your thoughts about it. A. --192.114.3.241 (talk) 13:44, 11 August 2021 (UTC)

Hrm. I was gonna say I don't see sources making the connection, but there are some sources that do discuss how the theory of moral panic can be applied to studying reactions to infectuous diseases - eg. Toilet Paper Thrones and Heated Tweets: Applying Moral Panic and Social Network Theory to Responses Over Panic Buying during COVID-19 is one connecting it to panic buying specifically, and here is one talking about how it relates to panic over COVID in the Philippines. But I'd be cautious - these sources are more talking about how Cohen's framework can be repurposed to analyze other types of panic than saying that it is (or created) a moral panic, so it wouldn't make sense to put it in the list of moral panics directly. --Aquillion (talk) 01:29, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

Looks like there is some interesting similarity with "Cohen's stages of moral panic": 1. Perceived and defined as a threat to societal safety. 2. Amplified by the mass media. 3. Social anxiety(? not sure about this term but anxiety for sure). 4. Politicians respond to the threat. --192.114.3.241 (talk) 10:18, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

At this point, I would say that such an addition would be an NPOV violation. There is little or no evidence from reliable sources that matches the responses of health agencies and governments to a moral panic definition. If anything, there is a sort of inverted moral panic, where legitimate responses are opposed and deprecated on ideological or propagandistic grounds. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:10, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

Very interesting. It is not my field but googling it up I can see some publications supporting this claim (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). If some of these were peer reviewed than they should be Neutral. Meaning, it is probably not a Neutral point of view (NPOV) violation. --192.114.3.241 (talk) 10:27, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

Also, considering the fact that the great majority of Covid cases (confirmed by PCR) are simply healthy as they have no symptoms, it does seem like panic. Panic which is highly promoted by the media. This results in governmental regulations that violate freedom. Again, without being an expert in the field, reading the wikipage about moral panic, the Covid seems like moral panic to me. --192.114.3.241 (talk) 12:20, 22 September 2021 (UTC)

More researchers supporting the idea that reaction to Covid may have been a moral panic [see 12]. The first is an opinion written by by John Scott, an honorable Professor of Sociology (Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.). I dare say that article of such an "heavy weight" Sociologist is a case against the NPOV violation claim --192.114.3.241 (talk) 12:37, 22 September 2021 (UTC)

Video nasties

There should be a section on the UK video nasties. JAF1970 (talk) 13:36, 22 September 2021 (UTC)