A folk devil (German: Volksteufel) is a person or group of people who are portrayed in folklore or the media as outsiders and deviant, and who are blamed for crimes or other sorts of social problems. (compare scapegoat)
The pursuit of folk devils frequently intensifies into a mass movement that is called a moral panic. When a moral panic is in full swing, the folk devils are the subject of loosely organized but pervasive campaigns of hostility through gossip and the spreading of urban legends. The mass media sometimes gets in on the act, or attempts to create new folk devils to create controversies. Sometimes the campaign against the folk devil influences a nation's politics and legislation.
The concept of the folk devil was introduced by sociologist Stanley Cohen in 1972, in his study Folk Devils and Moral Panics, which analysed media controversies concerning Mods and Rockers in the United Kingdom of the 1950s. The basic pattern of agitations against folk devils can be seen in the history of witchhunts and similar manias of persecution; in the long history of anti-Semitism, which frequently targeted Jews with allegations of dark, murderous practices, such as blood libel; or the Roman persecution of Christians that blamed the military reverses suffered by the Roman Empire on the Christians' abandonment of paganism.
More recent folk devils have included the McCarthyite persecution of alleged Communists; Satanists and allegations of Satanic ritual abuse; blaming video games and violence, Goths, and other youth subcultures or musical genres for the Columbine massacre.
Source: Wikipedia
To read more on 'Folk Devils' click the title.
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Blog Tutorial (6)-Posting clips-
This is so easy and adds excellent visuals to your blog. You can add the clip to the main posts of to the page element (on the left or right of a blog).
1)Find the clip you want on youtube.(view it to make sure it is exactly what you want…not a dodgy remake!) 2)Copy the EMBED info from the clip.3)Back to your blog and click new post. 4)Paste the EMBED info into the main body of your post.
(note that the EMBED info contains figures indicating size. You can alter these to fit on your page..i.e change 425 to 300 and 350 to 200 if needed…just remember to change all the figures.) 5) save post.
(To add a clip to as a page element…just click page element in customize and add the EMBED to the HTML/JavaScript.
p.s you must post the warning from Blog 3 before all clips.
dw
Your blog has been checked on Wednesday July 25 and any updates (of lack of updates) have been noted.
DW
sorry sir, my internet stopped working, only just got it back, lots of updates to come!
Post a Comment