AC1.5 Write-Up
Moral panic is when someone or something is made out to be a threat by society and
labelled ‘folk devils’. They will distort and exaggerate events and sensationalise (provoke
public interest and excitement) what has happened. Somebody labelled for their behaviour
might begin to believe them and continue to act like their label. For example, a man might be
called a thug for wearing a certain style of clothing and slowly start to believe that he is as he
changes his attitude too. This is called a Self-fulfilling prophecy. There is also a concept
called the ‘Deviation Amplification Spiral’ that goes in a cycle of: Media reports on an event,
authorities try to control it, which leads to more deviance, authorities try harder to control it.
An example of moral panic would be the Mods and Rockers in the 1960s where rival gangs
fought each other in a seaside town that was perceived by the media to be a much bigger
issue than it was. Even though there were plenty of crimes committed, the Daily Mirror
newspaper stated that there were 97 arrests made during this period but only 24 of them
happened in reality. This led to the lower-class society, which some were a part of, to be
shunned by the higher-class society who called their behaviour ludicrous and labelled them
the ‘wild ones’.
Changing public concerns and attitudes is when media representations affect the public by
changing their views of certain people (folk devils) and therefore changing the public concern
and attitudes towards them. An example of this would be how Muslims were treated after
9/11. Islamophobia was at its biggest during this period as everybody was pointing fingers to
try and come to a resolution of who made these horrific terrorist attacks on the USA and the
media made it out to be like they had found the answer, spreading rumours about who it
could’ve been from who the USA’s enemies were. This led to Muslims being mistreated and
labelled as bad people even though most of them are purely innocent and never had
intentions of harming people. However, the public’s attitude towards them became
treacherous and led to some muslims moving towns, cities or even countries because they
were no longer welcomed into their communities.
Perception of crime trends is how crime is perceived as in if it is increasing, decreasing or
staying the same. This is important as this impacts the public’s view and increases fear of
being a victim of crime as they see how high (or low) certain crime rates are and because of
how the media decide to select news stories and pinpoint certain types of crimes. Crime
Survey of England and Wales states that ‘crime has been falling in the UK since 1995 - from
19.4 million incidents to 5.6 million incidents in March 2020.’ This perception is more likely to
be more accurate when people are faced with local knowledge as the news they hear comes
from a more reliable source than media. An example of this would be how violent and sexual
crimes are heavily covered over the news even though they cover a small minority of the
crimes being committed, however, because it carries more news values, it tends to be
publicised frequently instead of other crimes like driving offences.
Stereotypes of a criminal include the following: young, lower-class, often unemployed males;
often an ethnic minority, ‘bad attitude’ to authority, poor educational record and association
with people who are known to the police. The media typically highlight this and can impact
how police respond to crime and the level of punishment given as they place pressure on
police or courts to react and respond quickly and take action. An example of this would be
the 2011 London riots when riots were caused by the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan in
Moral panic is when someone or something is made out to be a threat by society and
labelled ‘folk devils’. They will distort and exaggerate events and sensationalise (provoke
public interest and excitement) what has happened. Somebody labelled for their behaviour
might begin to believe them and continue to act like their label. For example, a man might be
called a thug for wearing a certain style of clothing and slowly start to believe that he is as he
changes his attitude too. This is called a Self-fulfilling prophecy. There is also a concept
called the ‘Deviation Amplification Spiral’ that goes in a cycle of: Media reports on an event,
authorities try to control it, which leads to more deviance, authorities try harder to control it.
An example of moral panic would be the Mods and Rockers in the 1960s where rival gangs
fought each other in a seaside town that was perceived by the media to be a much bigger
issue than it was. Even though there were plenty of crimes committed, the Daily Mirror
newspaper stated that there were 97 arrests made during this period but only 24 of them
happened in reality. This led to the lower-class society, which some were a part of, to be
shunned by the higher-class society who called their behaviour ludicrous and labelled them
the ‘wild ones’.
Changing public concerns and attitudes is when media representations affect the public by
changing their views of certain people (folk devils) and therefore changing the public concern
and attitudes towards them. An example of this would be how Muslims were treated after
9/11. Islamophobia was at its biggest during this period as everybody was pointing fingers to
try and come to a resolution of who made these horrific terrorist attacks on the USA and the
media made it out to be like they had found the answer, spreading rumours about who it
could’ve been from who the USA’s enemies were. This led to Muslims being mistreated and
labelled as bad people even though most of them are purely innocent and never had
intentions of harming people. However, the public’s attitude towards them became
treacherous and led to some muslims moving towns, cities or even countries because they
were no longer welcomed into their communities.
Perception of crime trends is how crime is perceived as in if it is increasing, decreasing or
staying the same. This is important as this impacts the public’s view and increases fear of
being a victim of crime as they see how high (or low) certain crime rates are and because of
how the media decide to select news stories and pinpoint certain types of crimes. Crime
Survey of England and Wales states that ‘crime has been falling in the UK since 1995 - from
19.4 million incidents to 5.6 million incidents in March 2020.’ This perception is more likely to
be more accurate when people are faced with local knowledge as the news they hear comes
from a more reliable source than media. An example of this would be how violent and sexual
crimes are heavily covered over the news even though they cover a small minority of the
crimes being committed, however, because it carries more news values, it tends to be
publicised frequently instead of other crimes like driving offences.
Stereotypes of a criminal include the following: young, lower-class, often unemployed males;
often an ethnic minority, ‘bad attitude’ to authority, poor educational record and association
with people who are known to the police. The media typically highlight this and can impact
how police respond to crime and the level of punishment given as they place pressure on
police or courts to react and respond quickly and take action. An example of this would be
the 2011 London riots when riots were caused by the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan in
