[ecrea] CfP: Moral Panics in the Contemporary World

Moral Panics in the Contemporary World
Brunel University
10-12 December 2010
Call for Papers
Click here for Conference Flyer

 

Deadline for Abstracts: 2nd August 2010
www.moral-panic.co.uk
Email: (moral-panic /at/ brunel.ac.uk)

 
Contributions are invited for an international conference which will explore the continuing relevance of the notion of moral panic to analyzing a range of contemporary phenomena.  The conference will feature contributions from major scholars in the field and from eminent professional journalists.
 
Almost four decades have passed since the initial development of the moral panic concept by Stanley Cohen, Jock Young and others.  Since its emergence in the early 1970s from radical criminology, the moral panic concept has both been taken up by a variety of academic disciplines and entered wider popular and journalistic discourse, being applied in both cases to a wide range of empirical examples.  Recent attempts to develop the moral panic concept have made connections to theories of risk, discourse and moral regulation.  The concept has also been applied to the analysis of a growing range of examples, including issues related to health, lifestyle and the environment.
 
It is clear that moral panic not only remains a topical concept, but also is one that has become increasingly widely used both within academia and the wider culture. However, perhaps precisely because the term is now so widespread, questions have been raised about the scope of its applicability and indeed about the adequacy of the moral panic concept itself.
 
This conference seeks to build on these recent criticisms, debates and developments, to explore and evaluate how the concept has developed and continues to do so, and how relevant it is to the analysis and understanding of current fears, risks, social problems and controversies.  The central aim of the conference is to further the development of moral panic research via theoretical analyses, methodological discussions and empirical studies.
 
Key thematic strands of the conference include:
• Environment & Risk
• War & Terror
• Lifestyle & Health
• Crime & Deviance
• Immigration & Security
• Economic Crisis & Political Scandal
 
We invite papers which investigate these and other areas of current concern, and which draw on the concept of moral panic with empirical and theoretical rigour.  We welcome contributions that draw on a wide variety of disciplines, including: sociology, criminology, cultural studies, psychology, politics, media studies, journalism studies, and history.
 
Titles and abstract (no longer than 250 words) to be submitted no later than 2nd August 2010.
Email: (moral-panic /at/ brunel.ac.uk)
 
Confirmed speakers thus far include:
• Professor Stanley Cohen (LSE)
• Professor Jock Young (University of Kent)
• Professor Chas Critcher (Swansea University)
• Professor Chris Jenks (Brunel University)
• Professor Catharine Lumby (University of New South Wales)
• Associate Professor Sean Hier (University of Victoria)
• James Oliver, Producer of BBC’s Panorama Documentary Baby P – The Whole Truth
 
Intended research outputs of the conference include:
• Edited book
• Special edition of journal
• Conference Proceedings (to be published by Brunel University Press)