Another look at moral panics: The case of satanic day care centers

Abstract

Moral panics reveal something of interest about social structure, social process, and social change, and the satanic day care moral panic of the 1980s certainly is no exception. This article begins by presenting an overview of that moral panic, using data from a sample of 15 of the over 100 day care centers that comprised it, to illustrate salient points about its timing, trigger and target, content, spread, and denouement. The article then asserts that the satanic day care moral panic also reveals that classical moral panic theory is in need of some revision if it is to retain its explanatory and analytical power in a complex, modern, social world. Specifically, an updated theory needs to account for empowered folk devils, pluralistic social reactions, and symbolic and contradictory social ends.