Stanley Cohen – Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972)

With his work Folk DevilsSocially constructed groups labeled as threats to societal values, often exaggerated in moral panics. and Moral Panics (1972), Stanley Cohen created a classic of critical criminology and media analysis. Building on the Labelling Approach, he examines how societies, in times of perceived threat, symbolically charge, demonize in the media, and politically combat certain groups. Cohen describes these processes as “moral panics” – collective reactions to social deviance that are often exaggerated, irrational, and politically consequential in terms of social control.

Folk Devils and Moral Panics

Central to Cohen’s analysis is the concept of “Folk Devils” – socially constructed enemy images onto which societies project their fears during crises. These “devils” can include youth, subcultures, migrants, or drug users. Their portrayal in the media is stereotypical and alarmist, serving as a projection screen for societal insecurities, cultural tensions, or economic upheavals. In such moments, deviance is not merely discovered but actively produced by the media, politics, and institutions. Moral panics typically follow a specific pattern of escalation:

• Deviant behaviour is identified or sensationalized in the media.
• Media coverage is distorted, simplified, and dramatized.
• Public outrage grows; politicians demand swift measures.
• Institutions like police and courts respond with harsher sanctions.

The panic not only causes short-term excitement but also leads to long-term intensification of social control and punishment, with lasting effects on social groups – especially those already marginalized.

Moral panics fulfil several social functions: They channel diffuse fears, create a sense of collective order, and offer simple answers to complex social problems. At the same time, they divert attention from the structural causes of social conflict – such as inequality, poverty, or shifts in power – and shift the focus onto individual offenders or marginalized groups.

The concept is therefore not only analytically powerful but also politically explosive: it shows how media narratives can be instrumentalized for purposes of social control – to legitimize tougher laws, repressive policing strategies, or restrictive migration policies. Historical examples range from the panic over Heavy Metal and Satanism in the 1980s, to “violent video game” debates, up to current discourses about “gang crime” or trans activism.

Key Points

Empirical Example: Mods and Rockers

As a case study, Cohen analyzes the conflicts between the British youth groups ModsA British youth subculture from the 1960s known for fashion, music, and conflicts with other groups. and Rockers in the 1960s. What were originally fairly harmless scuffles on the English coast were stylized by the tabloid press into an alleged threat to public order. PoliceA state institution responsible for maintaining public order, enforcing laws, and preventing crime. responded with mass arrests, courts imposed harsh sentences – the label of “dangerous youth” was established.

Theoretical Framework and Connections

Cohen’s analysis is grounded in symbolic interactionism and extends labelling theory: deviance is not objectively given but is produced and amplified through social reactions. The role of the media is central – as active agents that shape interpretations, create enemies, and mobilize demands for punishment.

Later theories such as Cultural Criminology or Critical CriminologyA perspective that examines power, inequality, and social justice in understanding crime and the criminal justice system. explicitly build on Cohen’s work. His concept has been particularly influential for studies on migration, drug policy, juvenile delinquency, and media-driven punitive escalation.

Criticism and Reception

Cohen’s work has been widely received and developed further. Especially influential was the systematization of the panic concept by Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda (1994), who identified five key features: volatility (rapid rise and fall), exaggeration (disproportionate reactions), consensus (broad societal agreement), enemy image (clearly defined “Folk Devil”), and disproportionality (excessively harsh sanctions).

One central criticism targets the accusation of “exaggeration”: Critics such as Angela McRobbie and Toby Miller argue that there are hardly any objective criteria for deciding when a social or media reaction is truly “exaggerated.” What constitutes appropriate reporting? Who defines whether a response is disproportionate? This epistemological vagueness makes the panic concept difficult to apply empirically.

Moreover, it is argued that the term “moral panic” has become overused – applied to almost any outrage over social deviance, digital scandals, or populist campaigns. This threatens to dilute its analytical precision.

At the same time, Cultural Criminology has productively expanded Cohen’s approach. Mike Presdee (2000) emphasizes that panics are shaped not only by rational discourses but also by symbolically charged performance, visual dramaturgy, and emotional excess. In his “carnival of crime” theory, he argues that some subcultures deliberately stage the moral panic narrative as a form of cultural self-assertion.

Keith J. Hayward meanwhile critiques the limited scope of the classic panic concept in late modernity. In an age of social media, memes, viral outrage, and cultural hyperreality, moral panics should be rethought – not as exceptions, but as permanent features of a mediatized society. He describes these as “late modern moral panics,” characterized by constant aesthetic escalation, affective mobilization, and political instrumentalization.

Despite these developments and criticisms, Folk Devils and Moral Panics remains a key work – methodologically and conceptually foundational for the critical analysis of deviance, public discourse, and social control.

Contemporary Relevance

The dynamics of moral panics are omnipresent today – in debates about youth violence, Islamism, migration, media “video game violence” discourses, or social-media hysteria. Cohen’s analysis helps us critically examine media dramatizations and their social and political consequences.

References

• Becker, H. S. (1963). Outsiders. New York: Free Press.
• Cohen, S. (1972). Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. London: MacGibbon & Kee.
• Goode, E. & Ben-Yehuda, N. (1994). Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance. Oxford: Blackwell.
• Hayward, K. J. (2010). “Pinned Down”: The Semiotics of Crime, Control and Media. In: S. Hall & S. Winlow (eds.), New Directions in Criminological Theory (pp. 192–214). London: Routledge.
• Hayward, K. J. & Presdee, M. (eds.) (2010). Framing Crime: Cultural Criminology and the Image. London: Routledge.
• Presdee, M. (2000). Cultural Criminology and the Carnival of Crime. London: Routledge.
• Young, J. (1971). The Drugtakers. London: Paladin.

Further Information