Modern folk devils: contemporary constructions of evil
Abstract
In his 1972 book Folk Devils and Moral Panics, Stanley Cohen (2002) convincingly shows how negative media coverage can generate what he terms 'folk devils' – individuals whose mere presence or actions feed a population's fear of a general degradation of society. Folk devils are sometimes seen as penetrating society from the outside; at other times they have developed from within the very society they are now seen as posing a threat to. Sometimes they are a visible group; other times they become epitomized by a single individual or phenomenon, or they exist only as a potential threat. As such, the folk devil for Cohen was not necessarily a biblical phenomenon or a figure related to actual devils. Rather, the folk devil term was coined to signify a perceived disturbance of social order that manifests itself through accusations of wrongdoing or evil. This volume examines current fears and perceived threats from an anthropological perspective as these unfold in different contexts around the world, and through this it investigates and analyses how contemporary folk devils emerge or develop. It shows how the devilish may take on many different forms – refugees, technocrats, Roma, hipsters, LGBT groups, right-wing politicians, sorcerers, economic migrants, tourists, mobile criminals and sugary foods – and contributions start with cases from across the globe: Germany, the Czech Republic, Sri Lanka, Denmark, the Republic of Georgia, the UK, Italy, Melanesia, France and the US.[.] ; Socialinių mokslų fakultetas ; Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas
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