by Jack Campbell

1. Jack Campbell

2.  Collective identity is a shared set of ideas in a
group. This makes us feel that we have a
purpose and that we fit into society. It makes
us feel both needed and wanted. In most cases,
teenagers are given extremely negative
representation by the press- The Independent
found that the word most commonly used to
describe youth was ‘Yobs’ (591 times), followed
by "thugs" (254 times), "sick" (119 times) and
"feral" (96 times).

3.  Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972)
 ‘A Moral Panic occurs when a condition,
episode, person or group of persons emerges to
become defined as a threat to societal values
and interests.’

4. 1 Concern– Awareness of a negative impact on
society
2 Hostility- Towards the group to separate them
from society and to ‘folk devil’ “them” from “us”
3 Consensus- A wide group of society accept the
threat of the group in question
4 Disproportionality- The action taken is
disproportionate to the actual threat posed
(exaggeration of the crime in the media)
5 Volatility- They can easily disappear as soon as
they came and move on to a new topic

5.  Cohen says that the negative press coverage
around teenagers means they end up being
seen as ‘folk devils’. A moral panic is a small
period of time in which the majority of society
sensationalise an event and place the blame on
one group of people. The press often
manipulate messages to create moral panics as
this means they will sell more copies of their
publication. The way the press report stories is
often irresponsible and blatantly untrue,
however we believe the stories as we live in a
‘blame culture society’.