MORAL PANICS - CULTURE, POLITICS, AND SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION

Social problems may fruitfully be looked at as constructed phenomena, that is, what constitutes a problem is the concern that segments of th e public feel about a given condition. From the constructionist perspe ctive, that concern need not bear a close relationship with the concre te harm or damage that the condition poses or causes. At times, substa ntial numbers of the members of societies are subject to intense feeli ngs of concern about a given threat which a sober assessment of the ev idence suggests is either nonexistent or considerably less than would be expected from the concrete harm posed by the threat. Such over-heat ed periods of intense concern are typically short-lived. In such perio ds, which sociologists refer to as ''moral panics,'' the agents respon sible for the threat-''folk devils''-are stereotyped and classified as deviants. What accounts for these outbreaks or episodes of moral pani cs? Three theories have been proposed: grassroots, elite-engineered, a nd interest group theories. Moral panics are unlike fads; though both tend to be relatively short-lived, moral panics always leave an inform al, and often an institutional, legacy.