Interactionist Theories of Crime and Deviance - Folk Devils & Moral Panics | A Level Sociology

welcome to this tutor to you sociology topic video looking at theories of crime and deviance focusing on the work of stanley cohen and folk devils and moral panics stan cohen's work folk devils and moral panics is a seminal piece of sociological research that has become well known for introducing the term moral panic into everyday language in

folk devil's moral panics cohen examined the relationships between the media police and those committing acts of deviance namely public disorder between the mobs and the rockers at seaside resorts in the uk in the early 1960s cohen's work has become incredibly influential in the examination of the relationship between the media and perceptions of criminality and can

be applied not to just young working-class adults but to a broader range of social groups in society in this video we're going to examine cohen's work and look at some of the other applications of folk devils and moral panics which help us to explain the relationships between media and crime cohen examine clashes between two

different youth subcultures at seaside resorts such as clacton brighton and margate in the early part of 1964. clashes between the two groups the mods and the rockers were reported by the media as riots when in reality they were little more than scuffles between the two groups the media exaggeration of these clashes helped to create

these two groups as distinct subcultures with young people across the uk coming to identify as either a mod or a rocker as a result of the coverage cohen used a variety of methods to investigate this phenomenon witnessing events on the beaches interviewing participants in coffee bars and clubs and observing court proceedings and also