The Mail
Vice: You came up with “moral panic” and “folk devils” in the 60s–what were you working on at the time, and how did you come to define moral panics?
Stan Cohen:
The Drugtakers
So were you researching criminology, or sociology?
Can you give me some quick definitions of moral panic and folk devils?
So if a moral panic is proportional to the perceived moral threat, it is no longer a moral panic? Is it the disproportion that defines it?
When you coined the term, it was based on contemporary goings on, how do you feel about the habit and practice of applying “moral panic” as a term to historical events like pogroms and witch hunts? Is that a valid use of the term?
Do subjects of moral panics ever become empowered by the moral scrutiny they come under? Can a group gain from being folk devils?
Did you at the time feel that you took any side in the confrontation between the media and the folk devils you were studying?
So are moral panics inherently a bad thing?
Do you think that widespread fears, and general dissatisfaction in a population can make a it less vulnerable to these panics?
BRUCE LA VRAI
Videos by VICE
More
From VICE
-
Screenshot: Pokemon GO -
Peter Billingsley sits on Santa's lap in a scene from the film 'A Christmas Story', 1983. (Photo by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images) -
Screenshot: Blizzard -
Winthrop and Valentine (Photo by Paramount/Getty Images)
