Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. . - Reviews - book review

Contemporary Review, June, 2003

Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. Stanley Cohen. Routledge. [pounds]45.00. 201 pages. ISBN 0-415-26712-9. This is a third edition of a title that first appeared in 1972 and the author has written a new introduction to review the 'uses and criticisms' of the term, 'moral panic', that have developed since 1972, years which include the murder of James Bulger, the Lawrence murder, the shootings at the Columbine High School in the U.S., the death of Leah Betts from 'Ecstasy', child abuse, the role of violence in the media, welfare cheats and unwed mothers and, finally, the incompetence of successive governments in dealing with illegal immigrants.

Mr Cohen argues that moral panics are 'condensed political struggles to control the means of cultural reproduction' and the study of them allows one 'to identify and conceptualise the lines of power in any society, the ways we are manipulated into taking some things too seriously and other things not seriously enough'. There is also a ne w reading list.