"moral panic" meaning in English

See moral panic in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: moral panics [plural]
Etymology: Modern usage appears to originate with Jock Young in 1971 and Stanley Cohen in 1972. Cohen states that "[they] both probably picked it up from Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media". Head templates: {{en-noun}} moral panic (plural moral panics)
  1. A semi-spontaneous or media-generated mass movement based on the perception that an individual, group, community, or culture is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society; a public outcry. Wikipedia link: Jock Young, Marshall McLuhan, Stanley Cohen, moral panic Translations (mass movement, public outcry): 道德恐慌 (dàodé kǒnghuāng) (Chinese Mandarin), moralpanik [common-gender] (Danish), morele paniek (Dutch), moraalipaniikki (Finnish), panique morale [feminine] (French), tollé public [masculine] (French), moralische Panik [feminine] (German), allgemeiner Protest [masculine] (German), ηθικός πανικός (ithikós panikós) (Greek), δημόσια κατακραυγή (dimósia katakravgí) (Greek), siðfár [neuter] (Icelandic), panico morale [masculine] (Italian), 道徳的なパニック (dōtokuteki na panikku) (Japanese), 도덕적인 공황 (dodeokjeogin gonghwang) (Korean), panika moralna [feminine] (Polish), pânico moral [masculine] (Portuguese), мора́льная па́ника (morálʹnaja pánika) (Russian), ма́ссовая истери́я (mássovaja isteríja) (Russian), pánico moral [masculine] (Spanish), moralpanik [common-gender] (Swedish)

Inflected forms

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          "ref": "2016 July 2, Sophie Gilbert, “Is Moral Panic About Online Porn Misplaced?”, in The Atlantic:",
          "text": "The psychotherapist Marty Klein likens the current moral panic around online porn to the epidemics of fear and suspicion that sprung up around satanic cults in the 1980s, and even around comic books in the 1950s.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 June 17, Moira Donegan, “What the moral panic about ‘critical race theory’ is about”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "But maybe the very obscurity of this genuine critical race theory is the point: before it became the object of the American right’s latest moral panic, few people had heard of critical race theory, and even fewer understood what it really was.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 June 29, Pamela Paul, “Do Not Panic. It’s Just a Moral Panic.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "Moral panics have existed since well before the Salem witch trials — perhaps the paradigm case. But thanks in part to social media, they are increasing in number and changing in nature.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 May 21, Matthew Reisz, “Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion by Agnes Arnold-Foster review – the past isn’t a foreign place”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "None of this is new. Moral panics, accompanied by calls for a return to a simpler age, once greeted the advent of frightening “new technologies” such as telephones and trains.",
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        "A semi-spontaneous or media-generated mass movement based on the perception that an individual, group, community, or culture is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society; a public outcry."
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          "code": "cmn",
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          "roman": "dàodé kǒnghuāng",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "word": "道德恐慌"
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          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "moralpanik"
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        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "word": "morele paniek"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "word": "moraalipaniikki"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "panique morale"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "tollé public"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "moralische Panik"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "allgemeiner Protest"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "ithikós panikós",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "word": "ηθικός πανικός"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "dimósia katakravgí",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "word": "δημόσια κατακραυγή"
        },
        {
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "siðfár"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "panico morale"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "dōtokuteki na panikku",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "word": "道徳的なパニック"
        },
        {
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "roman": "dodeokjeogin gonghwang",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "word": "도덕적인 공황"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "panika moralna"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "pânico moral"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "morálʹnaja pánika",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "word": "мора́льная па́ника"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "mássovaja isteríja",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "word": "ма́ссовая истери́я"
        },
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          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "pánico moral"
        },
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          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "moralpanik"
        }
      ],
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        "Marshall McLuhan",
        "Stanley Cohen",
        "moral panic"
      ]
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  "word": "moral panic"
}
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      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "word": "道德恐慌"
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      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
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      "word": "moralpanik"
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      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "word": "morele paniek"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "word": "moraalipaniikki"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "panique morale"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
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    },
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      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "moralische Panik"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
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        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "allgemeiner Protest"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "ithikós panikós",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "word": "ηθικός πανικός"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "dimósia katakravgí",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "word": "δημόσια κατακραυγή"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "siðfár"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "panico morale"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "dōtokuteki na panikku",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "word": "道徳的なパニック"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "roman": "dodeokjeogin gonghwang",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "word": "도덕적인 공황"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "panika moralna"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "pânico moral"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "morálʹnaja pánika",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "word": "мора́льная па́ника"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "mássovaja isteríja",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "word": "ма́ссовая истери́я"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
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      ],
      "word": "pánico moral"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "mass movement, public outcry",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "moralpanik"
    }
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  "word": "moral panic"
}

Download raw JSONL data for moral panic meaning in English (5.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.