Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements viii

Prologue 1

1 Enter the Moral Panic 20

2 The Moral Panic: An Introduction 34

3 Three Theories of the Moral Panic 51

4 The Moral Panic Meets Its Critics 73

5 The Media Ignite and Embody the Moral Panic 88

6 Deviance, Morality, and Criminal Law 109

7 Collective Behavior 129

8 Social Movements 141

9 Social Problems 150

10 The Renaissance Witch Craze 168

11 Drug Abuse Panics 197

12 The Feminist Anti-Pornography Crusade 218

Epilogue: The Demise and Institutionalization of the Moral Panic 245

References 251

Author Index 270

Subject Index 275

About the Author

Erich Goode is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His previous books include The Marijuana Smokers (1970), Collective Behavior (1992), Deviance in Everyday Life (2002), Extreme Deviance (edited with Angus Vail, 2008), Drugs in American Society (7th edition, 2008), and Deviant Behavior (8th edition, 2008).

Nachman Ben-Yehuda is Professor of Sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His publications include Deviance and Moral Boundaries (1985), The Politics and Morality of Deviance (1990), Political Assassinations by Jews: A Rhetorical Device for Justice (1993), The Masada Myth (1995), Betrayals and Treason (2001), and Selective Remembrances (edited with Philip Kohl and Mara Kozelsky, 2007).

Reviews

"This close reading of the facts behind a media story are the essence of Goode and Ben-Yehuda's work. They have taken the time and trouble to try and see what is a moral panic and what is true." (Metapsychology, March 2010)