Public security

How and Why Societal Elites Manipulate Public Fear

Have you ever wondered what causes mass hysteria? Have you ever considered that widespread public fear can be created and manipulated by powerful interest groups?

The sociological concept known as moralpanic offers valuable insights into how and why powerful social agents such as the news media and the police deliberately create public concern or fear of an individual or group.

Moral panic has been defined as a situation in which public fears and state interventions greatly exceed the objective threat posed to society by a particular individual or group who is/are claimed to be responsible for creating the threat in the first place.