Folk Devils and Moral Panics in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Morena Tartari is Associate Professor of Criminology and Policing in the Department of Social Sciences of Northumbria University, United Kingdom. She is a former Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow (University of Antwerp, Belgium). Her research has explored social issues including moral panics surrounding satanic ritual abuse, the stigmatisation of single mothers in institutional contexts, non-religious identities, practices and values, parenting cultures and digital risks and crimes. She is the author of several publications on the topic of moral panic. She is an active member of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Cirus Rinaldi is Associate Professor of Sociology of Law, Deviance, and Social Change in the Department of Cultures and Societies of the University of Palermo, Italy, where he also coordinates the Bodies, Rights and Conflicts Research Group. His research explores deviance theory, sociological theories of sexuality, male sex work and LGBTQI+ issues. He is the author of the books Sesso, Sè e Società. Per una sociologia delle sessualità (2016) and Uomini che si fanno pagare: Genere, identità e sessualità nel sex work maschile tra devianza e nuove forme di normalizzazione (2020) in addition to many journal articles and contributions to edited collections. Cosimo Marco Scarcelli is Associate Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication in the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology at the University of Padua, Italy, where he is also the Director of the BD Communication Programme. His research explores sexuality, gender, masculinities, digital culture, pornography, intimacies, love, emotions, and young people. He is particularly interested in qualitative and participatory research. He is the principal editor of Gender and Sexuality in the European Media (Routledge, 2021), associate editor of The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication (Wiley, 2020), and author of numerous journal articles. He is also an editor of the Journal of Gender Studies.

Folk devils and moral panics in the COVID-19 pandemic: An introduction 1. Ten dimensions of dispute over moral panic theory in an age of COVID 2. COVID-19 in social problems marketplaces 3. The ‘crazies’ are panicking’. High-vis folk devils and the co-opting of moral panic in Australia 4. Understanding the protest movements against the COVID-19 public policy in France as a moral panic 5. Moral panics and health-related misinformation: When the audience becomes co-producer 6. Framing social drama: Panic, protest and the Canadian trucker convoy 7. Mutuality vs freedom: Competing moral panics in the UK debate over the wearing of masks during the pandemic 8. Voices of reason, voices of moralization. Analysing moralising discourse in scientific claims in news media in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, 2020-2022 9. Neo-liberal background of pandemic-related moral panic in Polish press discourse 10. “Infected migrants”: The Italian political discourse about immigration during the pandemic: a renewed moral panic? Folk Devils and moral panics in the COVID-19 pandemic: Final remarks