Myths and
Moral Panics:
Philip Jenkins
Class meets Tues/Thurs
8am-9.15am
Office hours: Tues/Thurs 11am-12.15am
The course
In the last decade, the media have reported extensively on the
alleged threat posed by a number of alien groups preying on American society,
including child abusers, serial killers, drug kingpins and even Satanists. Such
groups do exist; but it is the contention of this course that all these problems
have been vastly exaggerated for a number of motives - political, bureaucratic,
religious and psychological. This course will examine the relationship between
myth and reality in a number of recent "crime-waves". In so doing,
the course seeks to use the history of moral panics:
-to illuminate aspects of American social history;
-to understand the current manifestations of what Richard
Hofstadter described as "the paranoid style" in American life;
-to trace the influence of the mass media and bureaucratic
agencies in creating and defining public fears;
-to observe the construction of social problems;
-and to observe the continuing influence of fundamentalist
religion in a supposedly secularized age.
The course is intended to develop a critical appreciation of the
way in which society forms its images and stereotypes of social problems
Although chiefly directed to issues of crime and justice, the conclusions would
be relevant to many other topics of media concern - for instance, the reporting
of stories about health, science, politics and so on.
Grading
The grade will be based on four components, including two essay
examinations, each worth 25% of the total points; and a paper worth 40%. In
addition, class attendance and participation count for another 10% of the
grade. Exams will take place on March 3 and April 30.
Students will be
expected to write a major paper describing and analyzing one of the recent
cases, and the media and legislative response to it. This should be based on
primary sources, with close critical attention being paid to the use of
language and rhetoric by journalists, officials or politicians involved. Apart
from lectures and discussions, this class will make considerable use of media
sources that exemplify the "panics" at work - for example, recent
television programs on issues like drug abuse, teenage suicide, Satanism and
serial murder.
The paper is due in final form on May 5. There will
be no extensions on this. You should have the vast majority of the work
here done long beforehand, so there will be no problem even if a real emergency
blows up the week before the due date. I will be happy to look at drafts of
your papers, and will of course expect you to ask for help or guidance at any
stage of the projects.
Deadlines
Deadlines matter, and I intend to enforce them strictly. If you
miss a deadline without getting an extension in advance, you get a
non-negotiable grade of F on that particular exam, paper or project. Do not try
getting in touch with me after the fact to explain why you missed an exam,
unless you produce a proper medical note. Excuses must always be supported by
documentation. Valid reasons include medical problems and the like. I am aware
that ROTC sometimes makes strange demands on its members, and these reasons would
be valid: but note that ROTC also provides documentation for these absences,
which must be produced if you want to claim this as a reason for an extension.
Ditto for the Athletic departments.
The following are not valid reasons for an extension, so please
don't ask:
"I have other exams that day" (so ask the other
professors for the extension)
"I'm leaving early for break" (not if you want the
grade, you're not)
"I overslept" (Always a danger in an early class. Buy an
alarm clock)
Texts - all required
1. Richardson, Best and Bromley, The Satanism Scare, New
York: Aldine de Gruyter 1991, ISBN: 0-202-30379-9
2. Bennett, The Party of Fear, University of North
Carolina/ Vintage, 1988, ISBN: 0-679-72861-9
3. Katz, Gay American History, New York: Avon 1984, ISBN:
0-380-40550-4
4. Kahaner, Cults That Kill, New York: Warner 1989, ISBN:
0-446-35637-9
5. Reader available from HUB Copy Center
Do note that all the books are or should be in paperback.
Note on texts
One goal of this course is the critical use and evaluation of
texts and arguments, whether these are found in books, newspapers, or whatever.
This means that just because something occurs in a textbook, required or
otherwise, it does not mean that you should automatically believe it, still
less that it is beyond criticism. I am deliberately setting texts that are
controversial, to provide the opportunity for you to exercise your critical
judgment. In other words: read, but do not necessarily believe without further
evidence
In addition, there are quite a few books available in cheap ($4 or
so) paperback editions that would make useful supplementary reading for the
class. I will not provide a full list here, but recent examples include Judith
Spencer, Suffer the Child;
or Maury Terry's The Ultimate Evil. Some are valuable, others are
sensationalistic junk. However,
even the junk is informative for what it reveals about public attitudes and
prejudices. The comments about exercising scepticism apply doubly here. Take a
trip out to B. Dalton's bookstore at the Mall, or University Books on College
Avenue - browse the True Crime and Social Science sections, and see what
treasures(!) you find.
The Term Paper
The term paper comprises a substantial 40 percent of the grade,
and I want you to have a clear idea of what I want. The project is not a
conventional paper like a book report or a biography, and it must involve work
on primary sources. In most cases, this will involve newspapers and magazines.
For a topic, you can choose anything within the general area of
Dangerous Outsiders. It should normally illustrate the construction of a myth,
a moral panic, or a social problem. It might be an example of something we have
covered in the course (eg child abuse, drugs, Satanism, teenage suicide, drunk
driving and so on), but there are many other possibilities. You might trace the
development of a particular campaign or movement. I emphasize that you should
study a particular case or example, and not (for example) give an account of
witch-hunts over the centuries, or contemporary myths about child abuse. I
would certainly be open to other suggestions - for instance, a legal analysis
of measures passed in response to a specific panic.
I want to know what topic you have chosen by the tenth class of
the course, on February 13. I don't want a draft then - just a
title. I will then be happy to assist with a bibliography. (If you have any
doubts about a topic, please check with me).
Find a topic, which can be either current or historical. Unless
you have something startlingly new to say, avoid well-trodden incidents like
the Salem witch-trials, the McMartin playschool or the Tawana Brawley affair.
Describe how and why the "panic" developed; who the main actors were;
how they got their views across; how the media responded. How were language and
rhetoric used to create and disseminate perceptions of the problem? How were
statistics used? If wildly inaccurate figures were cited, were they criticized
by the media? Did the affair have an outcome in terms of new law enforcement measures,
or in legislation? Overall, what can we learn from the incident in question?
How does this specific affair relate to the wider scholarly literature on the
topic? Does it confirm or contradict the theories normally used in the area?
Obviously, these questions will not apply to every project, they are only
intended to give a general guide to the sort of issues you might consider.
One useful tip is to concentrate on something local, either in the
immediate area of central Pennsylvania, or in your home area; but this is up to
you. If this is possible, then it would obviously be nice to interview
participants in the events depicted; but this will only apply to some cases.
Within Pennsylvania, some historical incidents that come to mind immediately
are the Temperance movement; the Ku Klux Klan and other nativist movements; and
the McCarthyite purges of the 1950s. All had a big impact within Centre County, as well as throughout the state
as a whole. Were there panics about drugs in a college town like this back in
the 1930s or 1950s? From more
recent years, there are obvious topics like abortion, pornography and drunk
driving. What about the campaign to ban films like The Last Temptation of
Christ, or controversial rock and rap music? Some communities in the state
have also reported classic examples of myths and legends about Satanic cults
and sacrifices, and these stories are a goldmine for projects like this.
Once you have determined on a topic, there are a number of ways of
finding materials. Sources of general use include the Reader's Guide to
Periodical Literature; the Television News Index and
Abstracts; the annual indexes of the New York Times; and the
invaluable computerized search facilities offered by the Philadelphia
Inquirer. The Reference Room and the Microfilm Room of Pattee will give you
a great deal of what you need here. In addition, Pattee library has some
excellent computer facilities that allow you to do a rapid and thorough search
of the leading newspapers of several major cities across the United States - at
present, mainly for the 1980s. Go to the microfilm room and ask about them. If
a story is of local or state interest, you may find valuable material by
contacting the local newspaper or television station in the area concerned, and
perhaps the journalists and editors involved.
Interviews of this sort can be very informative, but you have to
be careful in approaching them. Ask politely, as these people are doing you a
big favor in giving up their time to be interviewed. You will also get a great
deal more out of these encounters if you are well-informed about the topic
beforehand. Also, you have to let the subjects know exactly how you will be
using the information gained - form the start, establish ground rules about
confidentiality. Interviewing law enforcement officials involves a whole
different set of issues, and I would be happy to advise you beforehand if this
situation arose.
Finally: if a "panic" reached the attention of Congress - and many of them did - then the records will be available in the Documents Room of Pattee. They will be well indexed, but you may have to ask for assistance in finding your way around the system.
Syllabus
1. January 14. Why study the topic?
Theories and concepts. Myths, stereotypes, panics and scapegoats
Read:
Bennett, Party of Fear, entire book
2. January
16. The remarkable continuity of charges against out-groups, from the Classical
world to Stalinism in the USSR in the 1930s. The scapegoats and stereotypes of
particular ethnic and social groups.
3. January
21. Conspiracy and paranoid traditions in American history. McCarthyism and the
Rightist conspiracy tradition. Illuminati and Communists.
Read: Reader
14-22
4. January
23. The Ku Klux Klan through history. Nativism, anti-Catholicism and the
symbolic crusade.
5. January
28. Foreign demons: enduring stereotypes of Arabs and Jews.
Read: Reader
135-143
6. January
30. The 1960s and 1970s as a golden age of conspiracy theory. The assassination
theorists.
7. February
4. Changing perceptions of ethnicity in American organized crime. Crime and
racial politics.
Read: Reader
1-13 - introduction to witchcraft
8. February
6. Views of Salem and the witches, 1692-1992.
Read: Reader
35-46 - From Salem to Jordan
9. February
11. Satanism.
Read: Satanism
Scare, 3-15 (introduction) and 49-72 (Bromley chapter)
10. February 13.
Satanism, continued. "America's Best Kept Secret".
Read: Reader
76-79 - newscuttings; Satanism Scare, 41-48, Russell chapter.
**I need
to know your choice of term paper topics today**.
11. February
18. Satanism, continued.
Read: Satanism
Scare, 75-94 (Nathan chapter)
12. February
20. Jordan and McMartin. The invention of ritual abuse.
Read: Reader
80-107 - "And a child shall mislead them"
13. February
25. Endangered children: the concept of child abuse. Molesters and paedophiles.
Read: Satanism
Scare, 95-122, chapters by Best and Martin-Fine. Also see the attached handout.
14. February
27. Endangered children, continued. The interlinked panics of the 1980s. the
legislative politics of missing children. Arlen Specter, John Walsh, Paula
Hawkins, Kenneth Wooden
Read: Reader
23-34, "Protecting the Victims"; also Reader 108-128, Best article on
missing children.
15. March 3.
EXAM ONE
Read: Reader
129-134 - Halloween legends
16. March 5.
Endangered children, continued.
Child pornographers. and the myth of the snuff film.
Read the
whole of Cults That Kill
over Spring break.
17. March
17. Rock lyrics and teen suicide. Halloween and changing concepts of childhood
and adolescence.
Read: Satanism
Scare, 205-220 - chapter by
Richardson
18. March
19. "Cults That Kill". Discussion of Kahaner book; issues of
methodology.
Read: Reader
52-59 - introduction to serial
murder
19. March
24. "Four thousand victims" - Serial murder as myth and reality. The
construction of the NCAVC.
Read: Reader
60-74 - reality of serial murder
20. March
26. Serial murder, continued
21. March
31. Serial murder, continued
Read: Satanism
Scare, 175-204, chapters on police and Satanic crime
22. April 2.
The political and social uses of panics. Ethnic and religious agendas.
Read: Satanism
Scare, 127-171 - chapters on psychotherapy
23. April 7. Homosexuality as the focus of
panics. Medicine and science as the tools of ideology.
Read: Satanism
Scare, 279-310, chapters by Ellis and Bainbridge on how Satanists construct
themselves.
24. April 9. Drug legislation as a model of
stereotyping and power group politics. From dope fiends and speed freaks to
crack users
Read: Satanism
Scare, 237-248 - chapter by Green on the Matamoros case
25. April 14. "Ethnic Notions".
Read: Satanism
Scare, 221-237 and 249-262 - chapters by Victor, and by Balch and Gilliam
26. April 16. Failed panics: Tawana
Brawley, Jim Garrison. Rumor and urban legend.
Read: Satanism
Scare, 263-278 - chapter by
Rowe and Cavender
27. April 21. The media role. Cinema and
popular fiction. Thomas Harris, Jonathan Kellerman, Stephen King.
28. April 23. Comparative and international
view: the British experience
29. April 28. The politics of a local panic.
Conclusion and overview: explaining the paranoid tradition in American life and
politics
30. April 30. EXAM TWO
I have asked for the following books to be put on reserve at
Pattee Library. Obviously I do not expect you to read them all - just use them
as seems appropriate in your papers and background reading.
Howard Becker, Outsiders, HV5825.B4 1963
Norman Cohn, Europe's
Inner Demons, BF1584.E9C63
Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, Holy Terror, BR115.P7C64
John Demos, Entertaining
Satan, BF1576.D42
Paul and Shirley Eberle, The Politics of Child Abuse, HV6626.5.E24
1986
Kai Erikson, Wayward
Puritans, BX9355.E7
John Gerassi, The
Boys of Boise, HQ76.G38
Joseph Gusfield, Symbolic
Crusade, HV5292.G8
Joseph Gusfield, The
Culture of Public Problems, HE5620.D7G87
Charles Higham, American
Swastika, E743.5.H5 1985
John Higham, Strangers
in the Land, E184.A1H5
1988
Richard Hofstadter, The
Paranoid Style in American Politics, E743.H632.
R. Po-chia Hsia, The
Myth of Ritual Murder, BR309.G37
1988
George Johnson, Architects
of Fear, E183.J68 1983
Larry Kahaner, Cults
that Kill, HV6529.K34
1988
Carol Karlsen The
Devil in the Shape of a Woman, BF1576.K37
1987
Seymour M. Lipset and Earl Raab, The Politics of Unreason, E183.L56
1978
David Musto, The
American Disease, HV5825.M84
1987
Joel Norris, Serial
Killers, HV6529.N67
1988
Diana Russell, Sexual
Exploitation, HV6565.C2R87
1984
Joseph Schneider and John Kitsuse, Studies in the Sociology of
Social Problems, HN51.S929
1984.
Dwight C Smith, The
Mafia Mystique, HV6446.S54
Susan Sontag AIDS
and its Metaphors RA644.A25S66
1989
Malcolm Spector and John Kitsuse, Constructing Social Problems HN28.S7
1987
Mike Taibbi and Anna Sims-Phillips, Unholy Alliances: Working
the Tawana Brawley Story, HV8079.R35T35
1989