A moral panic is an unjustified fear of somthing which tends to find expression on a wide scale in the public arena; Blaming an object or activity for wider social evils/ills.
Typically they feature:
- Anxieties about the young and working class 'getting out of hand'
- fear of new technologies
- fear of the modern world and nostalgia for the 'golden age' in the past
- assumption of copycatting
- sex and violence: young people finding out about the adult world
Some well known moral panics from the past
- Childs Play and video nasties
- Mods and Rockers
- Internet porn
Effects on society
These moral panics cause a big reaction in society.
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