The Myth of Moral Panics: Sex, Snuff, and Satan

This study provides a comprehensive critique - forensic, historical, and theoretical - of the moral panic paradigm, using empirically grounded ethnographic research to argue that the panic paradigm suffers from fundamental flaws that make it a myth rather than a viable academic perspective.

Introduction: Moral Panic for Dummies Part I: The Making of a Myth 1. Constructing Moral Panic 2. Sozzled Students, Drunken Debutantes and the Hidden History of Mods And Rockers 3. Mugging Reality Part II: Progressive Panic 4. Witch Hunts and Moral Enterprise 5. A Very Nasty Business 6. Who Needs Satan? Part III: The New Politics of Panic 7. Streets of Fire. Conclusion: Carry on Panicking