Moral Panics and the Social Construction of Deviant Behavior: A Theory and Application to the Case of Ritual Child Abuse

TLDR

The article develops a theory explaining the causes and transmission of moral panics. It outlines criteria for identifying moral panics, presents models for analyzing the social conditions that generate them and the construction of deviance, and examines how such panics spread across societies, illustrated by the current ritual child‑abuse panic.

Abstract

The objective of the article is to develop a theory of the causes and transmission of moral panics. The theory is designed to explain forms of collective behavior, previously labeled panics, scares and persecutions. Part one of this article presents criteria for the identification of moral panics. Part two of the article offers models for analyzing the social conditions, which cause moral panics and lead to the social construction of definitions of deviance. Finally, part three examines the social processes by which moral panics are transmitted between different societies. In order to illustrate the theoretical analysis, the article presents information about the current moral panic involving criminal accusations of ritual child abuse by secret, satanic cults.