Rethinking Moral Panic for Multi-Mediated Social Worlds
McRobbie and Thornton note that the concept of moral panic arose over twenty years earlier from the sociology of deviance and the emerging sociology of mass media, with studies of youth culture, drug takers and media reaction. They argue that every stage in the process of constructing a moral panic, and the social relations behind it, should be revised. More attention should go to the great expansion of the media and to the many more participants in public debate, including commercial promotion departments and pressure groups.
McRobbie and Thornton note that the concept of moral panic arose over twenty years earlier from the sociology of deviance and the emerging sociology of mass media, with studies of youth culture, drug takers and media reaction. They argue that every stage in the process of constructing a moral panic, and the social relations behind it, should be revised. More attention should go to the great expansion of the media and to the many more participants in public debate, including commercial promotion departments and pressure groups.
Written from the abstract as shown on the OpenAlex record, read 2026-11-04.
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McRobbie, A., & Thornton, S. L. (1995). Rethinking Moral Panic for Multi-Mediated Social Worlds. British Journal of Sociology, 46(4), 559-574. doi:10.2307/591571