The Cultural Politics of Contemporary Moral Panic Studies: Refl ections on a Changing Research Agenda

The publication of Fitzgerald and Smoczynski’s article on societal reactions to polish labour migrants in the United Kingdom provides an important opportunity to refl ect on theoretical and conceptual advances that have been made in the sociology of moral panic. Conventional perspectives conceptualise panic episodes as exceptional rather than ordinary claims-making activities that amplify deviance in a manner that is disproportionate to actual threats. An alternative perspective aimed at revising conventional approaches widens the focus of analysis by conceptualising moral panic as a more routine than atypical expression of moral regulation in everyday life. This discussion paper clarifi es how moral panic is conceptualised as a form of moral regulation, and it identifi es three specifi c ways that Fitzgerald and Smoczynski’s fi ndings complicate some of the assumptions characterising the changing framework in moral panic studies.