Folk Devils and Moral Panics in Malaysian Context
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Discuss the notion of ‘moral panics’. Illustrate your discussions with examples of ‘folk devils,’ and incorporating concepts such as ‘the deviancy amplification spiral’ and the need for law and order.
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In one if his countless speeches, Adolf Hitler once said, “If we do not take steps to preserve the purity of blood, the Jew will destroy civilisation by poisoning us all.” Societies all around the world have been under the ‘attack’ of the moral panics countless of times in history. Moral panics, a term used to describe a state of panic in a society due to the occurrence of a certain event, fearing that the values uphold in the society are being threatened and may be in jeopardy, was first coined by Stanley Cohen in his writings in the year of 1987 entitled Folk Devils and Moral Panics. The characteristics of moral panics are explained by Cohen as ‘a condition, episode, person or group of persons who become defined as a threat to societal values and interests’ (Cohen, 1987). The study was primarily about the sub-cultures specifically those relating to Mods and Rockers in the 1960s scene. He studied the treatment received by the “deviants” due to their “immoral behaviours” as they were deemed to be a threat to law and order, mainly because of the way they have been represented to the society by the media in the form of control culture. Control culture refers to the media who reveal an event, and in some cases exaggerate the consequences of the event, and then “suggests”, or perhaps call for the “perpetrators” or “offenders” to be persecuted by the law.
The perpetrators of the unacceptable behaviours are regarded as “folk devils”. More often than not, these folk devils are just merely scapegoats who are being blamed for being the cause and are responsible for the harmful consequences that have caused the moral panics. In some events, these scapegoats become the
Discuss the notion of ‘moral panics’. Illustrate your discussions with examples of ‘folk devils,’ and incorporating concepts such as ‘the deviancy amplification spiral’ and the need for law and order.
-------------------------------------------------
In one if his countless speeches, Adolf Hitler once said, “If we do not take steps to preserve the purity of blood, the Jew will destroy civilisation by poisoning us all.” Societies all around the world have been under the ‘attack’ of the moral panics countless of times in history. Moral panics, a term used to describe a state of panic in a society due to the occurrence of a certain event, fearing that the values uphold in the society are being threatened and may be in jeopardy, was first coined by Stanley Cohen in his writings in the year of 1987 entitled Folk Devils and Moral Panics. The characteristics of moral panics are explained by Cohen as ‘a condition, episode, person or group of persons who become defined as a threat to societal values and interests’ (Cohen, 1987). The study was primarily about the sub-cultures specifically those relating to Mods and Rockers in the 1960s scene. He studied the treatment received by the “deviants” due to their “immoral behaviours” as they were deemed to be a threat to law and order, mainly because of the way they have been represented to the society by the media in the form of control culture. Control culture refers to the media who reveal an event, and in some cases exaggerate the consequences of the event, and then “suggests”, or perhaps call for the “perpetrators” or “offenders” to be persecuted by the law.
The perpetrators of the unacceptable behaviours are regarded as “folk devils”. More often than not, these folk devils are just merely scapegoats who are being blamed for being the cause and are responsible for the harmful consequences that have caused the moral panics. In some events, these scapegoats become the