Assignment:
Answer two questions:
1. In the Introduction Anderson summarizes moral panic as "an intense media- based reaction to a pressing issue in society." Cohen locates the concept squarely in the interactionist labeling/transactional tradition. As a process of social construction, the moral panic plays out in a battleground of opposing groups, mass media, and meaning creation. Compare the two primary competing groups of moral entrepreneurs and folk devils. What is the role of mass media in initiating and managing the moral panic.
2. Distinguish between Lemert's concepts of primary and secondary deviance, with examples (p. 359). Which of the twob relates specifically to the process of deviance-labeling?
3. Identify and discuss the five criteria of moral panic according to Goode and Ben-Yehuda. Do you think moral panics contribute to long-term, lasting social change, or are they more akin to fads and fashion (quick to appear and also to fade)?
4. Ungar compares the concept of moral panic to the emergence of so-called risk society. How does the social anxiety of risk society compare to the moral panic? Evaluate and critique Beck's observation (p. 372) that "risk society is a catastrophic society?
Readings:
Understanding Deviance
By Tammy L. Anderson