Moral Panics in Theory and Practice
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This chapter presents the current discourse on ‘sham marriage’ – marriages of convenience for immigration purposes – as a moral panic. The perceived faking of intimate relationships for remuneration or the gains of economic migration has provoked amplified outrage in cases where those in positions of moral authority have reportedly been involved in organised ‘sham marriage rackets’. We trace the moral panic over sham marriage through its visual and provocative depiction in media coverage – newspaper articles, investigatory documentaries – to its perpetuation in the UK government’s ongoing project of managing immigration (including ministerial speeches and advice to registrars).
This Byte offers readers insight into some of the central debates and questions about gender and the family, examined through the lens of moral panic. It begins with an overview of the part played by moral panics, together with an appraisal of the work of Stanley Cohen, one of the chief architects of moral panic ideas. Drawing on research and practice examples from different parts of the world, it explores interconnections between gender, class, ‘race’ and age, and interrogates the role of the state (and social work) in intervening in family life.
We live in a world that is increasingly characterised as full of risk, danger and threat. Every day a new social issue emerges to assail our sensibilities and consciences. Drawing on the popular Economic Social and Research Council (ESRC) seminar series, this book examines these social issues and anxieties, and the responses to them, through the concept of moral panic. Revisiting Moral Panics begins with a commentary by Charles Critcher followed by twenty four contributions from both well-known and up-and-coming researchers and practitioners that address panics ranging from those surrounding the 2011 English riots to fears over ‘feral families’ in New Zealand. There are four parts: Gender and the family; Moral Panics in our time?: Childhood and youth; The State, government and citizens; and Moral crusades, moral regulation and morality. Each part is rounded off with an Afterword from a practitioner that lends a critical comment. Revisiting Moral Panics is a stimulating and innovative overview of moral panic ideas. It also provides a masterclass in their applicability, or otherwise, to contemporary anxieties and concerns.
What we can see is the moral panic spinning out of control around child abduction in Roma communities … It is demonising not only the Roma in Greece, but will affect the communities here, including Gypsies. It is playing into the view of Gypsies and Roma as child stealers … You can have one suspected case that leads to the headlines that we have seen. People are speculating about massive abduction rings for begging. (Katharine Quarmby interviewed on Channel 4 News, 22 October 2013)
What happens when two different, but related, moral panics collide? When prejudice and hysteria join forces? What impact does racial profiling have on those communities who find themselves in the crosshairs of the state? In late 2013, various central and Eastern European Roma (‘Gypsy’) communities living in Britain faced an unwelcome and overtly hostile media spotlight. Politicians openly spoke about needing to ‘change’ the ‘behaviour and culture’ of Roma migrants who were allegedly behaving in ‘intimidating’ and ‘offensive’ ways. Such views were espoused not by marginalised and disgruntled Tory backbenchers but a former Labour Home Secretary (David Blunkett, MP) and the current (at the time of writing) Deputy Prime Minister (Nick Clegg, MP). This moral panic largely centred around themes of integration, asociality and behaviour but also overlapped and merged with existing media and political attention on allegations of Roma being involved in child abduction – initially the case of ‘Maria’ in Greece and two later cases in Ireland. Roma ‘behaviour and culture’, viewed in highly static, essentialist, almost colonial terms, could only do right in doing wrong and was presented as being in direct contrast to equally static and unproblematically reified ‘British values’.
In late 2013, various central and Eastern European Roma (‘Gypsy’) communities faced an overtly hostile media spotlight. Politicians openly spoke about needing to ‘change’ the ‘behaviour and culture’ of Roma migrants who were allegedly behaving in ‘intimidating’ ways. Although this particular moral panic was fortunately brief, it arose out of a well-established anti-Roma tradition and has left its mark on present and most likely future community relations. This chapter considers these issues and explains how, where and why this moral panic emerged in the way it did. To complement the theory, data from an on-going research project in Glasgow conducted by the author, is incorporated to illustrate the impacts of moral panics for those communities directly affected.
The murder of Lee Rigby has increased focus on the concept of extremism. There have been repeated calls in the media and from Government for greater regulation of the internet. A variety of government sources and media outlets have identified particular individuals and groups as “extremists” and linked them closely with the murderous actions of those responsible for the death of Lee Rigby. By developing a narrative that focuses on the populist belief that the internet is responsible for the radicalisation of (particularly) young black men, society appears to be at greater risk. Emphasis placed on the technological aspects of extremist behaviour contributes to moral panics and is liable to exacerbate existing divisions by identifying “extremism” as associated with murderous actions and intent. Extremism becomes a byword for threat.
Lee Rigby was murdered in London on 22 May 2013. He was returning to the army barracks in Woolwich where he was living when he was hit by a car and then murdered by two men wielding knives and a cleaver. This event took place in broad daylight on a busy street in the capital city. The brutality of the murder seemed incomprehensible, as was the apparent randomness of the attack: Lee Rigby was targeted because he was a soldier – his attackers knew nothing more about him. They even took time after the assault to talk to passers-by, some of whom recorded the interaction on their mobile phones before uploading the footage to social networking sites, including YouTube. Both men were subsequently shot and wounded by armed police officers and taken to hospital. In February 2014, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale were found guilty of murder and given sentences of whole-life and 45 years, respectively. Video footage of the event was used repeatedly by the mainstream media after the murder and again at the time of the trial, bringing a ‘real time’ dimension to the attack and increasing its shock value considerably. An anti-Muslim backlash erupted in various parts of the UK in 2013 and 2014, with a series of assaults on mosques and on men and women assumed to be Muslim. It is not surprising, given the seriousness and the unexpected nature of this event, that there has been intense speculation as to why it might have happened, and what might be done to prevent it happening again.
The collision of recent technological change and fears about sexual risk to children has seemed to polarise debates about online activity by young people and those thought to have a sexual interest in children. Finkelhor (2014) describes the alarmism reflected by scholarly and journalistic literature, which is founded on assumptions about the amplification of deviance, the role and dynamics of the digital environment, and remedies to the problems lying in specialised internet education programmes. He also points out that research findings do not appear to support these assumptions. In many countries, particularly the United States, the rates of child sexual abuse show a decline (Laaksonen et al, 2011; Radford et al, 2011; Finkelhor and Jones, 2012), and only a small proportion of sexual offences against children in the US have an online component (Wolak, Finkelhor and Mitchell, 2009). Bullying, as a form of peer-related aggression, still shows higher rates in face-to-face as opposed to online activity (Livingstone et al, 2011). The US research would also indicate that most online offenders are people who know their victims from offline contexts, and the dynamics of online and offline offenders are similar (Wolak and Finkelhor, 2013), although in the latter analysis the sample reflected two groups that used online communication for sexual communication with a minor. One group was known to the young person in the offline world (family or acquaintances) and the other had first met the young person online, although both used the internet or mobile phone to engage sexually with a minor.
The last decade has seen a growing preoccupation with the harms associated with sexual photographs of children. Concerns have been raised as to whether the proliferation of child pornography laws is potentially problematic because it makes us look at children through paedophilic eyes. Does this preoccupation divert attention and resources away from the more substantial problems related to contact sexual offences? At times it appears that there is a polarisation of opinion expressed as concerns about either the presence of, or lack of, moral panic about these crimes. This chapter examines such anxieties through the lens of moral panics and considers the implications for the well-being of children who have been sexually abused and photographed.
Part One begins with a dedication to Stanley Cohen and a commentary about his work. This is followed by five chapters that begin from the starting-point of an exploration of gender and the family, asking if and how the concept of moral panic has meaning for the ways in which we think about, and act towards, gender and the family today. Part One is an eclectic collection; people are writing from different disciplinary backgrounds and different countries, and they have different ‘takes’ on moral panic theory. Readers are invited to make up their own minds or, rather, to ask their own questions in response to the questions posed by the authors. Part One offers an exciting, and at times provocative, group of chapters that explore the connections between ideas of gender, class, ‘race’, youth and ‘the family’, and highlights the importance of not taking things for granted and of questioning the very basis of our beliefs. The social issues identified here all have consequences, often negative ones, for individuals and for society; such is the power of power panics.