The Social Psychology of Leftist Mass Hysteria (Part 2) : Moral Panic

In the second half of this series I look at the phenomena of moral panics, as has been historically catalogued in cases such as the Salem witch trials, the red scare, and even more recently and less severely, Gamergate in relation to the current hysteria being expressed across various individuals and groups on the left in their desperate attempt to isolate and burn the perceived deviant folk devils of the right. I describe how moral panics function, grow and the behaviors they elicit.

The first half attempts to explain the social psychology of this phenomena.

You can gib shekels on Patreon

References:

Asch, M. J. (1951). Nondirective teaching in psychology: An experimental study. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 65(4),

Becker, H. S. (1963). Outsiders. Studies in the sociology of deviance. Simon and Schuster.

Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2009). Connected: The surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives. Little, Brown.

Cohen, S. (2002). Folk devils and moral panics: The creation of the mods and rockers (3rd ed.). London: Routledge.

Garland, D. (2008). On the concept of moral panic. Crime, Media, Culture, 4(1), 9-30.

Goode, E., & Ben-Yehuda, N. (2010). Moral panics: The social construction of deviance. John Wiley & Sons.

Knopf, T. A. (1970). Media myths on violence. Columbia Journalism Review, 9(1), 17.

McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public opinion quarterly, 36(2), 176-187.

Szablewicz, M. (2010). The ill effects of “opium for the spirit”: a critical cultural analysis of China's Internet addiction moral panic. Chinese Journal of Communication, 3(4), 453-470.

Background Music: