'Playing with Moral Panics: The framing of young people in the reporting of crime and video games'
Presentation given at The Faculty of Education, Anglia Ruskin University, 25th November 2010
1. Playing with Moral Panics:
The framing of young people in the
reporting of crime and video games
Jason Rutter
Jason.Rutter@soc.kuleuven.be
Friday, 26 November 2010
3. Jock Young, 1971, The Drugtakers: The Social
Meaning of Drug Use
Stanley Cohen, 1972, Folk Devils and Moral Panics
Goode & Ben Yehuda, 1994, Moral Panics: The
Social Construction of Deviance
Friday, 26 November 2010
4. What makes a moral
panic?
Friday, 26 November 2010
5. Reporting of events not
unbiased - tends to
stylise and
sensationalise
Friday, 26 November 2010
8. Segments of a society
are singled out a
deviant, dangerous or
demanding regulation
(‘folk devils’)
Friday, 26 November 2010
9. “Right and proper way for a
person of this gender, age and
nation to behave and to be.”
Critcher, 2009, p.18
Critcher, C., (2009) 'Widening the Focus: Moral Panics
as Moral Regulation', British Journal of Criminology.
49 (1), pp.17-34.
Moral Panics reinforce
Friday, 26 November 2010
13. 1. Concern - some reported conduct or event sparks
anxiety
2. Hostility - the perpetrators are portrayed as folk
devils)
3. Consensus - the negative social reaction is broad
and unified
4. Disproportionality - the extent of the conduct or
the threat is exaggerated
5. Volatility - reporting and panic emerge suddenly,
but can dissipate quickly too
Friday, 26 November 2010
15. Moral barricades are manned by
editors, bishops, politicians
and other right-thinking
people; socially accredited
experts pronounce their
diagnoses and solutions.
Cohen, Moral Panics (1972)
Friday, 26 November 2010
22. The camp’s clinical director, Susan
Borgman, agrees about the causes of the
obesity epidemic and says: ‘We can
trace it back to the early Eighties.
‘Kids began buying video and computer
games and this also coincided with a
time when the rising cost of living
meant more parents were going out to
work and less supervision meant more
convenience meals.
Wellspring UK
Britain’s first fat camp for teenagers
The Sun, 28th Jul 2008
Friday, 26 November 2010
24. DESPERATE Billy Robbins holds the unenviable
title of the World's Heaviest Teenager - after
topping 60 STONE.
His life-threatening weight - half a ton -
follows years of overfeeding by his misguided
mother, Barbara.
Billy, 19, was housebound for three years before
doctors told Barbara she was literally killing
him with love.
He spent his days watching TV and playing video
games as Barbara waited on him hand and foot.
8th Jan 2009
Friday, 26 November 2010
27. CRIPPLING bone disease rickets has made a shock
comeback - because kids are staying indoors with
video games instead of playing in the sunshine.
The condition - rife in gloomy 19th-century
slums but wiped out in Britain in the 1930s -
has been found in more than A FIFTH of children
in a Southampton study.
And unlike the olden days, when it was linked
with poverty, medics say it is now just as rife
in middle-class youngsters.
[...]
Stunned study leader Professor Nicholas Clarke
said: "It is quite astonishing. This is a
completely new occurrence that has evolved over
the last 12 to 24 months.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3225824/Game-addict-kids-hit-by-extinct-bone-disease.html
Friday, 26 November 2010
29. FURY erupted last night over plans for a Raoul
Moat book, movie and game ... before the man he
killed has even been laid to rest.
[...]
And last night gaming websites showed the cover
of Grand Theft Auto Rothbury - a version of the
Xbox hit Grand Theft Auto.
It is named after the Northumberland town where
Moat, 37, hid then shot himself after his gun
rampage in which he shot ex-lover Samantha
Stobbart, 22, killer her lover Chris Brown, 29,
and shot and blinded Pc David Rathband, 42 in
both eyes.
[...]
Samantha’s grandmother, Ann Hornsby, 69, said
[...] “It is sick - it’s blood money. The game
is beyond belief.”
Daily Star, 21st July 2010: http://www.mcvuk.com/static/images/assets/565/1055_DailyStar_GTARothbury.jpg
Friday, 26 November 2010
31. • Story had no truth
• Did not contact Rockstar games
• Box cover was a photoshop creation
• ‘Substantial’ damages donated to charity of
Rockstars choosing
• Daily Star apologised
• Removed story from web site
Take 2 sue Express Newspapers
Friday, 26 November 2010
32. ON 21 July we published an article claiming that
the video games company Rockstar Games were
planning to release a version of their popular
Grand Theft Auto video games series titled
“Grand Theft Auto Rothbury”.
We also published what we claimed would be the
cover of this game, solicited comments from a
family member impacted by the recent tragedy and
criticised Rockstar Games for their alleged
plans.
We made no attempt to check the accuracy of the
story before publication and did not contact
Rockstar Games prior to publishing the story. We
also did not question why a best selling and
critically acclaimed fictional games series
would choose to base one of their most popular
games on this horrifying real crime event.
Daily Star, 26th July 2010: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/145880/Rockstar-Games-Grand-Theft-Auto-An-apology
Friday, 26 November 2010
35. Death Race (1976)
• 1 & 2 player
• Run over ‘Gremlins’ to
convert them to
‘tombstones’
• Gremlins would scream
• ‘Sick and morbid’:
National Safety Council
• Featured on 60 Minutes
• 500 made
Friday, 26 November 2010
38. LOCATION DATE No DEAD
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA April 2007 33
Dunblane Primary School, Dunblane, UK March 1996 18
Gutenberg-Gymnasium, Erfurt, Germany April 2002 17
Albertville Secondary School, Winnenden, Germany March 2009 16
University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA August 1966 16
École Polytechnique Montreal, Quebec, Canada December 1989 14
Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado, USA April 1999 13
Azerbaijan State Oil Academy,Baku, Azerbaijan April 2009 13
Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences Kauhajoki, Finland September 2008 11
Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva, Jerusalem, Israel March 2008 9
Jokela High School Tuusula, Finland November 2007 9
Red Lake Senior High School, Red Lake, Minnesota, USA March 2005 8
California State University, Fullerton, California, USA July 1976 7
Al-Tallai private high school, Sana’a, Yemen March 1997 6
Cleveland Elementary School, Stockton, California, USA January 1989 6
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA February 2008 6
Freiherr-vom-Stein Gesamtschule, Eppstein, Germany June 1983 6
West Nickel Mines School, Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, USA October 2006 6
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA November 1991 6
Westside Middle School, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA March 1998 5
St.-Marien-Schule, Bremen, Germany June 1913 5
Friday, 26 November 2010
39. April 16th 2007
Seung-Hui Cho - 2nd year BIS student
Two attacks separated by two hours
Killed 32: Wounded 17
Committed suicide.
Virginia Tech Massacre
Friday, 26 November 2010
41. Pictures of himself holding
weapons, an 1,800-word
rambling diatribe, and video
clips in which he expresses
rage, resentment, and a desire
to get even with oppressors.
Virginia Tech Review Panel, 2009, p.29)
A Media Friendly Massacre
Friday, 26 November 2010
49. Hide mental health history in high
School
Counselling sessions withdrawn
given slight improvement in
communication
Suicidal and homicidal thoughts
Friday, 26 November 2010
50. ‘Pathological shyness’ worsened in
college
Increasingly ‘dark’ contributions to
creative writing course
Reports of stalking
Involuntary hospitalisation
Friday, 26 November 2010
65. ‘To seek for evidence of the ‘the
effects of media violence’ is to
persist in asking simplistic
questions about complicated
social issues’
Buckingham (1997: 67)
Buckingham, D. (1997) ‘Electronic child abuse? Rethinking the media’s effects
on children’, in M. Barker & J. Petley (Eds.), Ill Effects:The Media /Violence
Debate (pp. 63–77). Routledge, London: Sage.
Friday, 26 November 2010
66. Moral Panics on Games hide discussions
about young people and:
Sexuality
Access to guns
Parenting
Mental health
Care by schools
Food industry
Friday, 26 November 2010
67. Who Benefits?
• Media?
Attracts audiences; Drive sales; Develops a voice
• Moral Entrepreneurs?
Publicise agenda; Strengthen importance; influence policy
• Experts?
Develop profile; User engagement; REF...
• Games Industry?
Publicise games; Develop mainstream; Show responsibility
Friday, 26 November 2010