Moral Panics in American Culture

In this course we will examine the phenomenon of moral panics in American culture. We will study and compare the invention of and responses to perceived threats to social order and the creation of "folk devils" in a variety of historical and contemporary contexts. Principal topics will include: the production of moral panics by religious groups and secular media outlets (satanic ritual abuse), the labeling and self-ascription of deviance (mods and punks), crises of capitalism (nativism), and issues of sexuality and gender (polygamy and rainbow parties).