Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on when does moral panics occur.

Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on when does moral panics occur. Leaders use moral panic as a weapon to target a particular group. for example, Hitler used this concept to spread anti-Jew feelings and the persecution of the Jews. Many government heads both in the ancient time and the modern age have used the same excuse to invade other countries. On a smaller scale, instances of moral panics can be seen in the minority communities in Britain especially those belonging to the Indian Sub-Continent. Often fathers and brothers kill young girls if they refuse an arranged marriage or if they befriend some boy, not from their religion (Joseph & Najambadi, 2003, p. 697). This act is seen by the men of the family as shameful and they think that the death of the deviant is the only solution to the problem.

Goode & Ben-Yehuda (2009, p. 3) has best described moral panics as “an emotionally charged social phenomenon which causes fear and anxiety” while Krinsky (Ed) (2008) has defined moral panic as a sudden rise in public concern or an alarm about a group or a condition which seems to be dangerous and threatening. The dramatic and overreaction to certain events or groups of people were called Moral panic in 1972 by Stanley Cohen a British criminologist/sociologist who studied deviancy and its causes and introduced moral panics to a large audience. Cohen’s study was based on the street battle between Mods and Rockers. two rival youth subcultures in the 1960s and the reaction it got from the politicians, public, religious bodies and especially media. The group that was deviant and caused fear was dubbed by Cohen as folk devils while others including politicians, religious leaders and others tried to curb them by launching a “moral crusade”.

Moral panics can break out on a large scale which involves the whole society or may emerge on a small local scale. Bonn (2010) has termed the US invasion of Iraq as the biggest example of mass deception. Bush created such a hype, to justify the invasion, he used the excuse that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and&nbsp.was a threat to the world. Bush created a moral panic and deceived the Americans who then fully supported his motives.&nbsp.