Hall argued that a moral panic over black criminality at the time created a diversion away from the wider economic crisis – ‘black youths out of control’ being the headlines rather than ‘Capitalism in Crisis’ – hence the title of the book ‘Policing the Crisis’ (of Capitalism). It soon became a moral panic and as Hall et al (2013) suggests, as the panic developed it became apparent that it was almost exclusively a black youth problem, and this made them a folk devil. He found that the media in conjunction with the bourgeoisie create moral panics in order to perpetuate fear and maintain control over the whole of society. This site uses cookies. This book examines such issues as 'moral panic', social control, the media, ideology, law, the State, and the politics of crime. This was the first time, a specific crime in Britain was labelled a mugging in the press. To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access. Some society journals require you to create a personal profile, then activate your society account, You are adding the following journals to your email alerts, Did you struggle to get access to this article? Home > A Level and IB study tools > Sociology > Key Study - Policing the Crisis by Hall et al. First, their analysis of official statistics designed to show that the crime problem was not 'dramatically worse' confuses rates of change with increments of change, thus producing a misleading picture. (An exaggerated outburst of public concern over the morality and behaviour of a group in society). ‘Some Notes on the Relationship Between the Societal Control Culture and the Media’, ‘Criminology and the Sociology of Deviance in Britain: A recent history and current report’, ‘The Social Production of News: Mugging in the media’, ‘Authoritarian Populism, Two Nations and Thatcherism’, ‘The Myth of “Raymond Hoggart”: On “founding fathers” and cultural policy’, ‘Rethinking the Sociology of Journalism: Source strategies and the limits of media-centrism’, ‘Race, Crime and Hegemony: A review essay’, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, ‘Rethinking Deviance: Towards a sociology of censure’, ‘Schlock of the Newties: TV and the public intellectual’, ‘Beyond the Consensual Paradigm: A critique of left functionalism in media theory’. The society comes to perceive crime in general, and 'mugging' in particular, as an see these reactions as a moral panic. Although written in the late 1970's, the underlying theory and argument remains valid today - and this book ought to be read by anyone interested in the complex meaning of 'street crime' as a social construction linked to the dynamics of power in wider society. Wiley is a global provider of content and content-enabled workflow solutions in areas of scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly research; professional development; and education. In fact, the evidence cited by Hall et al., supports the opposite conclusion to that drawn by the authors themselves. There is currently no price available for this item in your region. If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. This article is part of the project “The Comparison Study on the Political Economy of Communication and the School of Cultural Studies” (Project No. ©2000-2021 ITHAKA. Hall et al argues that the 1970s saw a moral panic over 'black muggers' that served the interests of capitalism in dealing with the crisis. The headline ‘A Judge Cracks Down on Muggers In City of Fear’ led Hall et al. You can be signed in via any or all of the methods shown below at the same time. (An exaggerated outburst of public concern over the morality and behaviour of a group in society). (1978) provided a Marxist explanation of news power in their analysis of a ‘mugging’ moral panic—with the ‘black mugger’ as ‘folk devil’—which they read as an ideological intervention to address an escalating crisis in state hegemony. the mainstream of sociological thinking and research. Request Permissions. Login failed. Hall et al. First, their analysis of official statistics designed to show that the crime problem was not 'dramatically worse' confuses rates of change with increments of change, thus producing a misleading picture. scholarship of the highest quality on all aspects of the discipline, by academics Our core businesses produce scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, reference works, books, database services, and advertising; professional books, subscription products, certification and training services and online applications; and education content and services including integrated online teaching and learning resources for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. The Appropriation of Moral Panics in the Exercise of Social Control, Book Review: The Ashgate Research Companion to Moral Panics, Conceptual and empirical obstacles in defining MS‐13, Revisiting Moral Panics in Sexuality Education. moral entrepreneurs. Moral panic media creation and coverage are never the products of coincidence but mediation. Members of _ can log in with their society credentials below. The state used this to their advantage, as they blamed the crisis of hegemony on youth, crime and race. Hall and his colleagues (1978) define moral panics as “official” reactions to events that are “out of all proportion to the actual threat offered” (p.16). 's, claim that official and public concern about 'mugging' during the early 1970s was a 'moral panic' (Hall et al., 1978) is seriously flawed. However, in times of crisis, these become more difficult. Hall tried to explain why there should be such a strong reaction to, and widespread fear of, mugging. theorized that the " ...rising crime rate equation..." performs an ideological function relating to social control. Hall et al. the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Sign in here to access free tools such as favourites and alerts, or to access personal subscriptions, If you have access to journal content via a university, library or employer, sign in here, Research off-campus without worrying about access issues. (Hall et al, 1978) For Hall et al, the moral panic was a means of distracting attention away from several crises within the capitalist state. And both these panics are about other things than crime, per se. Consistently ranked highly Hall rejected the view that the panic was inevitable and understandable reaction to new and rapidly increasing forms of violence. by the commitment to excellence and scholarship one associates with its home With the exception of a few (e.g. 1978:75). (1978) who provided a Marxist analysis of the moral panic around ‘mugging’ – a term introduced from America by the British press in order to describe minor street robberies. As Hall et al. As previously discussed in neo-Marxist perspectives, Stuart Hall looked into the rise of black mugging in the 1970’s. from all over the world. A moral panic about street crime by black people was fostered, leading to a crackdown by the police and a crime wave fantasy (see the media and crime). Hall et al., 1978; Jenkins, 1998), most panic studies are ‘present-centred’; that is, they do not take account of the historically structured processes that feed into the panic2. Stuart Hall’s book ‘Policing the Crisis’ (1980) looked at the moral panic of mugging and its effects in the media. The bourgeoisie felt a lack of control due to a rise in “deviant” cultures e.g. Hall et al. Second, the lack of any criteria of proportionality allows no distinction to be drawn in general between a 'sober, realistic appraisal' of a problem and a 'moral panic'. Access to society journal content varies across our titles. The Moral Panic of 'Mugging' Mugging was a new crime Policing The Crisis Cultural theorist Stuart Hall was interested in race relations and British identity for Black individuals. Between August 1972 and August 1973, 60 events were reported as muggings in the national daily newspapers. al, 1994). Stuart Hall, et al. The British Journal of Sociology Key Study - Policing the Crisis by Hall et al. within the capitalist state. Please read and accept the terms and conditions and check the box to generate a sharing link. Moral panics are typically conceptualised as temporary, short-term episodes. Please check you selected the correct society from the list and entered the user name and password you use to log in to your society website. All Rights Reserved. Hall tried to explain why there should be such a strong reaction to, and widespread fear of, mugging. Hall et al’s (1978) Policing the Crisis study demonstrates how the media shapes public views regarding a particular group in society. In subsequent years, various scholars have provided similar definitions of moral panics. at the London School of Economics and Political Science. 425 pp. I have read and accept the terms and conditions, View permissions information for this article, Click the button below for the full-text content, 24 hours online access to download content. Media International Australia Editorial Board, Moral Panic: The Legacy of Stan Cohen and Stuart Hall, https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X9708500103, Moral Panic or Moral Action? Wiley has published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions Find out about Lean Library here, If you have access to journal via a society or associations, read the instructions below. View or download all the content the society has access to. For more information view the SAGE Journals Sharing page. How did Hall explain this moral panic? A similar approach was adopted by Hall et al. The British Journal of Sociology is distinguished The subjects of them are usual ‘cultural scapegoats’ (Garland,2008, p.15) whose behaviour or existence goes against social norms. 's, claim that official and public concern about 'mugging' during the early 1970s was a 'moral panic' (Hall et al., 1978) is seriously flawed. Crime statistics, in Hall's view, are often manipulated for political and economic purposes; moral panics could thereby be ignited to create public support for the need to "...police the crisis". Hide Show resource information. Moral Panics and Hegemony: a reading of Stuart Hall et al.’s Policing the Crisis: Huang Dianlin is a research associate at the Institute of Communication Studies, Communication University of China. This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. And this relates to the larger 'panic' about the 'steadily rising rate of violent crime' which has been growipg through the 1960s. Returning to Policing the Crisis was so inspiring that we plan to organize next fall’s activities of the reading group around the literature that Hall et al draw on, starting with Althusser and Poulantzas. Stuart Hall Policing The Crisis. Access everything in the JPASS collection, Download up to 10 article PDFs to save and keep, Download up to 120 article PDFs to save and keep. Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. Contact us if you experience any difficulty logging in. Create a link to share a read only version of this article with your colleagues and friends. If you have access to a journal via a society or association membership, please browse to your society journal, select an article to view, and follow the instructions in this box. by the ISI in Sociology, this prestigious international journal publishes sociological His book entitled Policing the Crisis; The State and Law and Order Hall et al’s study in to the moral panic surrounding muggings in the 1970’s tries to apply Walton, Taylor and Young’s Fully social theory of crime to a real world situation. Hall et al. 0.0 / 5. By continuing to browse The difficulties posed by the absence of such criteria are explored in relation to the problem of 'racial attacks'. For more than 50 years The British Journal of Sociology has represented For Hall et al, the moral panic was a means of. Employing Cohen's definition of 'moral panic', Hall et al. Although, recent studies have shown that there is a decline in crime rates for some areas, moral panic continues to occur within different cultures in the society. This was one means by which revolution or radical political change was prevented; Evaluating Neo-Marxism and Critical Criminology. This product could help you, Accessing resources off campus can be a challenge. With a growing open access offering, Wiley is committed to the widest possible dissemination of and access to the content we publish and supports all sustainable models of access. He argues that the ruling class usually are capable of ruling society through consent. Notionally the topic of the book is the racialized moral panic around street crime (mugging) in 1970s Britain. The email address and/or password entered does not match our records, please check and try again. Wiley has partnerships with many of the world’s leading societies and publishes over 1,500 peer-reviewed journals and 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols in STMS subjects. What Hall et al (1978) put forward then, is a Marxist critique of false consciousness, whereby the moral panic over muggings and in general come to be seen as 'diversionary manifestations' with the intention of maintaining the status quo (Krinsky, 2013). 1978, all emphases in the original) After 35 years, we have become quite adept at tracing the emergence of panics, their later metastasis and their eventual fate. Hall et al (1978) articulates that the moral panic around black youth has led to the inner city increasingly being presented as dangerous. Hall rejected the view that the panic was inevitable and understandable reaction to new and rapidly increasing forms of violence. Hall tried to explain why there should be such a strong reaction to, and widespread fear of, mugging. show, when two or more activities converge, moral panics become especially powerful. ” (Hall et al, 1978, p.9) And of course it all depends on how those statistics are interpreted by the media (Hall et al, 1978, p.10). Hall et al. Our online platform, Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) is one of the world’s most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities. So, although Hall et al. Specifically, Hall et al. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click on download. © 1986 London School of Economics We spend far less time, though, on the non-construction of problems, of understanding why issues fail to generate panics, when they appear to fulfil all the classic criteria. What made Policing the Crisis so special was that it recognised that the shift to more authoritarian policing of black communities in the 1970s could not have happened without public consent; and that the mainstream media took a central role in structuring ‘social knowledge’ of street crime, creating and nurturing a moral panic around the figure of the ‘mugger’. Hall rejected the view that the panic was inevitable and understandable reaction to new and rapidly increasing forms of violence. Moral panics form part. JSTOR®, the JSTOR logo, JPASS®, Artstor®, Reveal Digital™ and ITHAKA® are registered trademarks of ITHAKA. London: Macmillan, 1978. They supported this argument by indicating the fear of increasing crime plays a big role in causing moral panic (Cohen, 1972; Hall et al., 1978; Goode et. View or download all content the institution has subscribed to. http://www.interscience.wiley.com. In the early 1970s, British capitalism faced crisis', such as, high inflation, strikes and unemployment. Sociology; Crime and deviance Sociological theory; A2/A-level ; OCR; Created by: Ash-Ketchum; Created on: 03-10-15 17:26; 1. see these reactions as a moral panic. This was represented as a new type For example, Arthur Hills was stabbed to death near Waterloo Station in London and this was one of the first crimes to be labelled as a mugging in the media. 1978: 223). Sparks, Richard , 1992, Television and the drama of crime: Moral tales and the place of crime in modern public life, Open University Press, Buckingham Google Scholar Sumner, Colin , 1981 , ‘Race, Crime and Hegemony: A review essay’ , Contemporary Crises, 5, 277 – 291 Sharing links are not available for this article. Mugging, the State, and Law and Order John Horton Stuart Hall, Charles Critcher, Tony Jefferson, John Clarke and Brian Roberts, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order. : Policing the Crisis-. ‘The net effect is amplification, not in the real events being described but in their threat potential for society’ (Hall et al. see these reactions as a moral panic. would agree with Cohen that the media was a powerful agent in shaping the public consciousness, it was not however, central to the generation of the moral panic, they were merely a pawn in a much larger game. For more information view the SAGE Journals Article Sharing page. The 1970s moral panic surrounding muggings was blamed predominantly on young black men. to argue that the only actors privy to information are the police, the media and the ‘ventriloquist’ of a Judge upholding the moral framework thus the primary definers are the first-hand and only eye-witness to the said ‘crime’ (The Daily Mirror, 26 September, 1972 in Hall et al. Lean Library can solve it. Hall et al. (Hall et al. distracting attention away from several crises. (An exaggerated outburst of public concern over the morality and behaviour of a group in society). ; He looked into how the media exaggerated and amplified the situation and created moral panic, folk devils, and deviancy amplification. a moral panic about 'mugging'. The e-mail addresses that you supply to use this service will not be used for any other purpose without your consent.