the myth of "moral panic": an alternative account of LSD prohibition

The authors challenge the concept of moral panic and propose an alternative model for understanding how deviance is constructed in public discourse, using the prohibition of LSD as an example. Drawing on research about collective behavior and how people respond to disasters, they argue that when faced with ambiguous social threats, people seek to clarify conflicting information by affiliating with others. This interpretive process resembles how social movements develop frames that prepare participants for action. Whether something becomes labeled as deviant depends on active social construction by various actors, not just reactive panic. The mass media plays a key role in selecting and disseminating information, fueling interpretive ambiguities and conflicts around potential moral threats.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In this paper, the authors call into question the idea of moral panic and delineate the rudiments of an alternate model of deviance construction and moral public discourse, using LSD prohibition as a working example. In developing their model, the authors draw on research on people in disasters and collective behavior. In keeping with these traditions, they argue that, when faced with emergent social threats, members of society seek to clarify ambiguous and often conflicting information about such threats through affiliation. The process through which ambiguous social information gets interpreted closely resembles the ways in which social movements arrive at interpretive frames that ready participants for action. Thus, whether or not a social object becomes deviantized depends on a complex process of social construction involving active, not merely reactive, efforts by social actors (contrary to traditional images of "panic"). Members of the mass media, as a special category of social actors, are seen as playing key roles in selecting and disseminating information about emerging social problems, thus fueling the interpretive ambiguities and conflicts surrounding potential moral threats.