This really does hit the nail on the head!
Children and families social work has been prone to periodic involvement in scares and moral panics, e.g. the Munchausen by proxy syndrome of the 1970s, glue-sniffing in the 1980s, satanic abuse in the 1990s and more recently, childhood obesity. This opinion piece focuses on a 21st century child protection anxiety, the Internet and child sexual abuse,
Moral Panics
In Folk Devils and Moral Panics, Stanley Cohen examined incidents of widespread social alarm from the 1950s and 1960s in relation to a variety of nation-wide issues that temporarily gripped the public imagination. Cohen argued that issues came about and were amplified by media attention with the co-operation of what he termed ‘moral guardians of society’. In his example of the Mods and Rockers, Cohen argued that a combination of moral outrage and substantial press coverage lead to widespread alarm and panic during which politicians became involved, the behaviour of culprits…
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