Revisiting Moral Panics: A Critical Examination of 21st Century Social Issues and Anxieties

We live in a world that is increasingly characterised as full of risk, danger and threat (Beck, 1999; Bauman, 2006). Every day a new social issue emerges to assail our sensibilities and consciences: today, elder abuse and trafficked children, tomorrow, who knows? Whether we are academics, researchers, policy makers, welfare practitioners or simply members of the public, we feel paralysed as to know how to respond; we do not know what to do and whom to trust.

This seminar series will examine some 21st century social issues and anxieties through the concept of moral panic, introduced as a field of social scientific study in the early 1970s by the sociologists Cohen and Young. The series will bring together academics, policy makers, practitioners, journalists and service users to debate and discuss the place of moral panics in policy and practice today, examining different 'case study' examples. Presentations will address a series of key questions:
- What is this social issue or anxiety about?
- What is held up as evidence of this social concern?
- Who are its subjects?
- Who are the claims-makers/moral entrepreneurs who are leading on this issue?
- How does this issue connect to wider social concerns and tensions?
- What is significant about the historical moment at which the panic develops?
- What are the consequences of these moral panics?
- What lessons are to be learned?

The idea for the series emerged in the discipline of social work. Social work has a strong historical association with moral panics centred on child prostitution, problem families and juvenile delinquency, to name just three. The series will be much broader, however, encompassing social concerns and participants from social work, social anthropology, social policy, socio-legal studies, sociology, history, psychology, education, policy studies and politics. It will involve leading international social scientists who have contributed to this subject over many years, and encourage a debate with and between academic and non-academic audiences.

It is planned to host the three international events in Edinburgh, Bath and Cardiff, led by colleagues from different disciplines, and bringing participants from across the UK as well as special guest speakers from the US and Canada:
1) Moral panics and the family, to be held in Edinburgh in Nov 2012 led by Prof Viviene Cree, Prof Janet Carsten & Dr Houston;
2) Moral Panics and children & youth, to be held in Bath in April 2013 led by Prof Ian Butler, Dr Gary Clapton & Dr Louise Jackson;
3) Moral Panics and the state, to be held in Cardiff in Nov 2013 led by Prof Mark Drakeford, Mr Mark Smith & Dr Michael Rosie.

These intensive one-day events will be managed as mini-conferences, with a mix of keynote speeches and workshops with both full and shorter 'spotlight' paper presentations from PG students, early career researchers & practitioners. Poster presentations will be displayed in the foyer at each event. Seminars will each have around 60 participants. Co-Is will attend as many seminars as possible, encouraging forward-feeding of ideas and experience; participants are likely to be restricted to one location, depending on numbers. Presenters will have opportunities to be part of published outcomes, both formal and informal. A series website and e-mail list will foster collaboration and dissemination during and after the series. The seminar series will be organised through the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR), a hub of cutting-edge research on children, families and relation

Who will benefit?
The seminar series will have widespread appeal to academics in the UK and beyond from a wide range of disciplines including social sciences, the arts, law and divinity. The topics under investigation are at the heart of intellectual debate across disciplines, and at the same time, are of major concern to a non-academic audience. It will also be a good platform for social work academics, including early researchers & PG students. The main non-academic beneficiaries of knowledge arising from this seminar series are anticipated to be policy makers and advisers in government (UK, England, Scotland and Wales) and practitioners (those working as managers and practitioners in local authority (LA) education, health and social service departments and third sector agencies - voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprise organisations operating in the field of social welfare. The series will also be of interest to journalists and to service users and members of the public as well as to the various pressure groups which campaign for and against some of the issues identified in the series.

How will they benefit?
Policy beneficiaries: Research demonstrates that moral panics often lead to the scape-goating of individuals and groups as 'other', as well as policy responses which can be experienced as repressive and punitive (Cohen, 1972, Young, 2009). It is anticipated that the presentations (paper and poster), discussion and outputs (on the website and in journal and book form) will make a real contribution to informing policy and formulating more progressive initiatives in relation to responses to social issues and anxieties.

Practice beneficiaries: Those who attend the seminars or access the outputs will, it is hoped, gain a new critical awareness of the negative impact of moral panics on people's lives. Moreover, better policy and legislative responses will lead, in turn, to better, more balanced approaches to those who find themselves caught up in social issues and anxieties (whether as 'victims' and 'perpetrators'), and contribute to the development of improved practice in social welfare and public services.

Society as a whole: The seminar series is not as an end in itself, but the beginning of the development of a new approach to social issues and anxieties, one which builds on synergies between the academy and policy & practice organisations, rather than simply amplifying concerns about risk and danger. The series will thus act as a springboard to the creation of a new scepticism about moral panics which has the potential to benefit all citizens. We anticipate that the series will lead to further collaborative events where we can continue to learn from each other's perspectives. Having a critical and engaged community will be a valuable asset to the UK as a whole.