1. Panic Now!

2. Barry Glassner’s (1999) The Culture of Fear
Formerly a professor of Sociology at University of Southern California
Author of a number of articles and books on the culture of fear phenomenon

3. Frank Furedi’s (2006) Culture of Fear Revisited
Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, UK
Author of author of Politics of Fear, Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone?, Therapy Culture, Paranoid Parenting and Culture of Fear.

4. The Social Construction of Reality
Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman, 1966
Knowledge is derived from and maintained by social interaction
The meanings of anything are the product of human interpretations and are not in nature
Our understandings of the world are produced by us, are socially constructed

5. Moral Panics
Stanley Cohen (1972) Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and the Rockers
A study of subculture and the media’s role in defining social problems for the public

6. Cohen’s Case Study
conflict between Mods and Rockers, in Clacton on Easter Sunday, 1964
two groups fought resulting in some vandalism and property damange
In the end, 97 arrested

7. Conclusions
the media's coverage of the episode was subject to exaggeration and distortion of the facts, giving the impression the event was more violent than it actually was

8. The Media’s Role An 'amplification' takes place through the media
It appeals to the public so that they concur with ready-made opinions about the course of action to be taken

9. Moral Panics Moral Panic, defined: “A condition, episode,
person or group of
persons emerges to
become defined as a
threat to societal values
and interests”

10. Social Control
Moral panics function to support and legitimize particular kinds of social control through:
Identifying a “social problem”;
Simplifying its cause;
3) Stigmatizing those involved;
4) Stirring up public indignation or concern.

11. Goode and Ben Yehuda (1994) Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance
1. Concern
2. Hostility
3. Consensus
4. Disproportionality
5. Volatility

12. Glassner’s (1999) “Social Construction of Fear”
“Fear is constructed through efforts to protect against it.”
“Neither the things that people do to protect themselves individually or collectively, nor what they are protecting themselves from, necessarily reveal their true fears.”

13. Misdirection
Like a magician’s sleight of hand to execute a magic trick, media work to focus our attention away from real risks and struggles
We are afraid of the wrong things because these are the things on the media agenda

14. Erving Goffman (1974) Framing Theory
The ways that stories are framed influences the meaning they will have
Definitions of a situation are constructed in accordance with principles of organization which govern events and our subjective involvement in them

15. Frames Defined
Frames are cognitive structures which guide perception and representations of reality
They structure which parts of reality get noticed
They are not necessarily consciously manufactured and are often unconsciously adopted

16. Todd Gitlin’s (1980) definition
“Frames are principles of selection, emphasis and presentation composed of little tacit theories about what exists, what happens, and what matters.”
In sort, frames structure our attention

17. Media Effects
What effects does our consumption of media have on our understandings of the world?

18. Cultivation Theory – George Gerbner
TV viewing has quantitatively observable effects on the perceptual worlds of audiences
Watching violence on TV creates an exaggerated belief that the world is violent or, in his words, “mean and scary”

19. The Hypodermic Model Also known as the “Magic Bullet theory”
The passive audience is injected with ideas about the world by media

20. Agenda Setting Theory McComb and Shaw
The agenda of the media and the public agenda are closely matched
The media’s agenda setting function means that there is a high correlation between media and the public ordering of priorities
People are more likely to attribute importance to and event, issue, or idea because of media exposure

21. Risk Society – Ulrich Beck
Risk is a product of knowledges produced by people, generally experts in a variety of scientific disciplines and actuaries
Risk as what has not-yet happened but is probable or predicted
The perception of risk has changed as a result of science and the unboundedness of time and space

22. Moral Panics Vs .... Risk found in people
Risks are time limited and infinitely substitutable
Risks lead to scapegoating
Risks are created by media
Moral outrage is the outcome
Moral panics can create a culture of fear

23. ...Vs Risk Society Risk found in our environments
Risks are not bound to space and time
Risks are defined not for purposes of blame but for purposes of increased control
Risks are created by science and knowledge
Moral imperatives to risk aversion are the outcome
Risk knowledges can create a culture of fear

24. Glassner “Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things”
Glassner’s examples:
Health scares
Killer kids
Crime
Others?

25. Why we are afraid: Premillennial tensions The news media Alarmism
Psychological projection of personal, moral, etc. insecurities

26. Why do we panic? The dominance of an ethos of risk-aversion
Overreaction
Disproportionality
Others?

27. What gets defined as a panic and what not depends on who is doing the defining.
Political agendas and selectivity
Pedagogies of fear

28. Technical explanations:
Media amplification or attenuation of risk
Most people get information by way of media
Fear sells

29. Social explanations: Change is experienced as risk
Concern about the future
Impossibility of knowing
Diminished humanity
Reconciling limits
All collect under the umbrella of the last theme: Diminished sense of control

30. Workshop: Critical Reading
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?

31. Where did it come from? Who wrote it? When?
Who is it written for?
What does it say? What is its topic? Thesis? What evidence does it provide to support its argument? What examples does it use?
How is the argument organized?
Is there a bias? Of what it is trying to persuade you?