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Pacific Sociological Association
Moral Panics and the Social Construction of Deviant Behavior: A Theory and Application tothe Case of Ritual Child AbuseAuthor(s): Jeffrey S. VictorReviewed work(s):Source: Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 41, No. 3 (1998), pp. 541-565Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1389563 .
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Sociologicalerspectives
Vol.
41,
No.
3,pp.
541-565
Copyright
1998
Pacific
ociological
ssociation
ISSN0731-1214
MORAL PANICS
AND THE
SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTION
OF
DEVIANT
BEHAVIOR:
A Theory nd Application
o the
Case
of
RitualChild Abuse
JEFFREY
S. VICTOR*
State
UniversityfNew York
ABSTRACT:
The
bjectivef
he rticle
s
to
develop theoryf
he
causes nd ransmissionfmoral anics.
he
heorysdesignedo xplain
formsf
ollective
ehavior,
reviously
abeled
anics,
cares nd
persecu-
tions. art ne f his rticleresentsriteriaforhe
dentification
fmoral
panics.
art wo
f
he rticle
ffers odels
or nalyzing
he
ocial ondi-
tions, hichausemoral anics nd ead o he
ocial onstructionf efi-
nitionsfdeviance.inally, art
hree
xamines
he
ocial
rocessesy
which oral
anics
re
ransmittedetween
ifferent
ocieties.n order
o
illustratehe heoreticalnalysis,he rticle
resentsnformationbout he
currentoralanic nvolvingriminalccusationsf itual hildbuse y
secret,
atanicults.
STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
The
past
offersnumerous
examples
of collectivebehavior
during
which
wide-
spread,
fearful umors
nd
accusations
about
dangerous
deviantsresulted n
false
accusations
of crime
against many
innocent people. Various terms have been
used to label this form fcollectivebehavior:persecution,witch-hunt,care,and
panic.
In
some cases, thewidely feared deviants are
products
of
ethnic, acial or
religious stereotypes.
he most
familiar
xample
is that
of anti-Semitic ersecu-
tions, ncluding
the Nazi
program
of
genocide.
In
other
ases,
the
nventeddevi-
ants are creations fpure imagination. he
classic example
is
the European witch-
hunt,during
which
perhaps
over one hundred thousand
people
were
executed,
because
they
were believed
to
posses
evil
magical powers (Ben-Yehuda 1981;
Levack
1987).
In
still other
cases,
the deviants are
stereotypes
f
members of
groups
that re
widely
believed
to be a
political
threat n a
society.
An
example
is
the anti-CommunistRed Scare'
in
the U.S of the
1950s,during
which
many
thou-
sands ofAmericanswere labeled as subversives nd losttheirobs (Caute 1978).
*Directll
correspondence
o:
Jeffrey
.
Victor, epartment
f
ociology,
tate
University
fNew
York, amestown
Communityollege, amestown,
Y
14701.
8/19/2019 Victor Moral panic
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542
SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVES
Volume 1,Number ,
1998
In
this
rticle, suggest rationale
or lassifyingll
theseforms f collective
behaviorogether
s moral anics.The objective
fthe
rticles todevelop the-
ory f he auses
nd transmissionfmoral
anics.The
article irstresentsrite-
ria foridentifying oral panics. Secondly, he articlepresentsmodelsfor
analyzing he ocial
onditions
hat ausemoral anics
nd ead tothe ocial on-
structionfdefinitions
fdeviance. inally,
he rticleffersrinciples
or nder-
standing
he
nternationalransmissionf
moral anics. n order
o llustratehe
theoreticalnalysis,
he rticle resents
nformation
bout he
ecent
moral anic
involving
riminalccusations
fritual hild buseby
ecret,atanic
ults.
PART
I:
THE
CHARACTERISTICS
OF MORAL
PANICS
Insimplification,moral anic s a societal esponse obeliefs bout threatrom
moral
eviants1.
heterm moral
anic
was coined y
British
ociologist
tanley
Cohen
n
his
book,
olk
evils
ndMoral
anics:
heCreationf
Mods ndRockers,
study f
Britishublic eaction
othedeviant
ehavior fthe mods
nd
rock-
ers youth.
ohenused the erm
o dentify form f
collective
ehavior harac-
terized y widelycirculating
umor tories
isseminatedy
the massmedia,
which
xaggerated
he hreat
osed
by
some
newly
dentified
ype
fmoral evi-
ants Cohen1972).
Cohendefined moral anic
s
a form fcollective
ehavior
during
which:
A condition,pisode, erson r group mergesobecome efineds a threat
to societal
alues nd
nterests;
tsnature
s
presented
n a
stylized
nd stereo-
typical
ashion y
the
mass media;
hemoral
arricades
re
manned
y
edi-
tors, ishops, oliticians
nd
other ighthinkingeople;
ocially
ccredited
experts ronounce
heir
iagnosis
ndsolutions; ays
of
coping
re evolved
or
more ften)
esorted
o;
the
ondition
hen
isappears,
ubmerges
r
dete-
riorates
nd becomes
isible
Cohen
1972: ).
Cohen
mployed
societal
eaction/abeling erspective
n
deviance,
hich
was
an
early
ntecedentf
urrentocial onstructionism.
The concept fa moralpanichas beenwidelyused byBritishociologists.
However,
merican
ociologists
ave
regarded
t as
suffering
rom
lackof
pre-
cise
ndicatorsnd made
ittle se of
t until
ecently.
n an
attempt
o
make he
concept
ess
ambiguous,
oode
and Ben-Yehuda
ave
suggested
he
following
five
specific
ndicators
of a moral
panic
(summarized
from Goode
and Ben-
Yehuda 1994:33-39).
1.
Volatility-The
sudden
eruption
nd
subsiding
of concern
bout
a
newly
perceived
threatto
society
from
a
category
of
people regarded
as
being
moral
deviants.
2. Hostility-The deviantsare regardedwith ntensehostility s enemies of
the
basic values of
the
society
nd
attributed
tereotypes
f evil' behavior.
3. Measurable
Concern-Concern about
the
threat s
measurable
n
concrete
ways,
such
as attitude
urveys.
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Moral
anicsnd ocial onstruction
f
Deviant ehavior
543
4. Consensus-There
is
consensus
in
significant
egments
of the population
that he
threat
s real and serious.
5. Disproportionality-
Concern
about the numbers
of moral deviants
and
theextent f the harm thattheydo is muchgreater han can be verified y
objective,
mpirical nvestigations
f the harm. Even
though
the
measur-
able concern s great,
the
numbers of deviants are minimalor even
non-
existent
nd theirharm s
very
imited r even
non-existent.
In
brief,
moral panic
is
a formof collectivebehavior characterizedby
sud-
denly ncreased
concern
nd
hostility
n
a
significantegment
f
a
society,
n reac-
tion to widespread
beliefs about
a
newly perceived
threat rommoral deviants.
Careful,
mpirical
xamination ta later ime,however,reveals
that he perceived
threatwas greatly xaggeratedor nonexistent.A moralpanic oftengives riseto
social
movements
imed at
eliminating
he
threatening
eviants and
may gener-
ate moral crusades
and
political truggles
ver use
of the aw to
suppress
the dan-
gerous
deviants.
Local
rumor-panics,
iots and ethnic
pograms
may
occur
in
reaction
o
belief
n
the threat.However,
such
dramaticbehavior s not
an
essen-
tial
element of the collective
behavior.
Belief,
not
emotion,
s
the
motivational
dimension
of
a
moralpanic.
The essence of
a
moral
panic
is thatsignificanteg-
ments
of
a
society
are
reacting
o
a
socially
constructed hreat rommoral
devi-
ants.
The main observablebehavior
during moralpanic is the communication
f
claims,
accusations
and
rumors.
The Study ofRumorsand Claims about Moral Deviants
A
contemporaryor
urban) legend
is the
type
of rumor hat s most
commonly
part
of
a moral
panic.Contemporary egends
are varieties fpersistent umor to-
ries, transmitted
rimarily
n oral
communication,
nd secondarilythrough he
mass
media.
The
storiescommunicate
hared
anxieties
about a
newly perceived
threat.
The
stories
also communicate
moral-political
message conveyed
in
the
form
of
age-old
recurring
motifs
nd
metaphors Victor
1993b). Contemporary
legends
are told as
if
tories
re
true, ust
as ordinary umors,
nd widelybelieved
as
if
the stories
re
likely
o
be
true.However, unlike ordinary
umors, he stories
aremorepersistent,nd less relevant o specific, ocalized people and events.
A
contemporary egend
is
a
process
of collectivebehavior which
consists pri-
marily
of
the
collaborative
creation
nd
communication f rumor
tories
n ever
changing
variations
Ellis
1990).
It
is not
a
fixed
and
unchanging
narrative. t is
always
emergent
out
of
interaction
nd
never
finished.
The
story s
constantly
being
reshaped,
as
people
add
parts,
orget arts
and distort
arts.Contemporary
legends
are
often
egarded
as
beingmerely musing
tales
having
ittle
ocial con-
sequence,
like those
about
poisonous
spiders
found
in
bunches of bananas or
fried rats served as
chicken.
However,
some contemporary egends can have
harmful onsequences, uch as
falseaccusations ofcrime, he destruction
f repu-
tations
nd
property,
iots nd even
killings.Examples
of
harmful ontemporary
legends
include
those that
promote
racist nd anti-Semitic
atred.
Exaggerated
claims-making
bout deviants is
a
central phenomenon
during
moral
panics.Therefore,
n
analysis
of the
claims-making rocess s thefocus of a
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544
SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVES Volume 1,Number ,
1998
social
constructionist
tudyof deviantbehavior.The
content f claims aboutdevi-
ance include matters
uch as:
stereotypes f deviants and theirbehavior,
typolo-
gies of variationsamong deviants,
descriptionsof the
dangers and particular
harms caused by deviants and rationales for dealing with deviants. The basic
premise of social
constructionisms thatdeviance is a
socially constructedmean-
ing.
These claims construct he
definitions symbolicmeanings)
attributed o
deviance. Therefore,ocial
constructionist esearchand analysis focus
upon the
claims-makers,
ather
hanthe
behavior
and
people defined s deviant;the
rheto-
ric
and propaganda
of the claims-makers, heirvested
interests, heir uthority
and powerin a
society Best 1989; Conrad
and Schneider1992).2
The claims made
about
satanic ritual
buse (hereafter
bbreviated s SRA) have
been studied by
Hicks (1991), Jenkins1992), Nathan and
Snedeker 1995), and
Victor 1993a, 1994,1995,1996). Most claims assertthat here xist ecret, riminal
organizations,
which
commithorrible
rimes gainst
children,
motivated
y
wor-
ship
of Satan. Some claims
assert
the
existence
of an
international
onspiratorial
network.Less extreme
versions assert that
the
secret networks
consist
only
of
intergenerational
amily lans. Ritual torture nd sexual
abuse of children s done
supposedly
to
program
children
o reverse
good
and evil. The
purported
im
is
to
brainwash
children
nto
the
ideology
of Satan
worship.
n their
atan-wor-
shipping rituals,
hese criminals
upposedly
sometimeskill and sacrifice
nfants
born to
impregnated
breeders and
commit cannibalism
with
the
body parts.
Some claims-makers ven assertthat
atanic cults
kidnaprunaway youth
forrit-
ual sacrifice,ommit andom murders f ndigent eople, and engagein the crim-
inal
businesses
of child
pornography, orced
prostitution
nd
drug dealing. These
criminals re
able to maintain heir
ecrecy
nd
avoid
detection, ccording
to
the
claims-makers,
ecause
satanists
have infiltrated
ll
the
nstitutions f
society.
The main evidence to
support
these claims consists
primarily
f accusations
made
by
hundreds of
adult
psychotherapypatients
who
report
decades-old
memories
of ritual orture
nd
sexual
abuse
by
their
parents,
nd similar
ccusa-
tions
made
by
children
gainst
their
arents
r child care
workers.
The
authorities
making
these
claims
include
some
psychotherapists,
ocial
workers,
ocal
law
enforcement
fficials,
undamentalist
lergy,
nd membersof
anti-cult rganiza-
tions.
The
Moral
Panic
Over SatanicRitualChild
Abuse
There s no researchon the
precise
numberof
people
who
have
made
accusa-
tions fSRA
against
heir
arents,
r
childcare orkers nd
others
n the
United
States,
nd there s no
precise
count of the number
f
criminal
rosecutions.
How-
ever,
a
random
sample
national
survey
of
2,272
clinical
psychologists
who
are
members of
the American
Psychological
Association found almost
3,000
cases
reported
by
the
802
psychotherapists,
ho
said
that
they
had seen at
least one
case of
SRA.
These
psychotherapists eported eeing 1,228
cases of adults
who
they
defined as victimsof SRA and
1,500
cases of childrenwho
they
defined as
victims f
SRA
(Bottoms, haver,
and Goodman
1996).
The numbersof SRA cases
are
likely
much
higher, onsidering
hat
many
thousands
of
psychotherapists
re
psychiatrists,
linical
ocial workers
nd diversekinds of counselors.
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Moral anics
nd
Social onstructionfDeviant ehavior
545
Some SRA accusations
have been taken to
the criminal ourts.A
national sur-
vey of
a sample of706 district
ttorneys, ,037social service
workers
and 2,912
law
enforcement
gencies found
that 302 respondents
had encountered
t least
one SRA case (Goodman,Qin,Bottoms, nd Shaver,1995).A legal surveydoneby
the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation ofcriminal ases
involvingallegations
of childsexual abuse
made by adultsbased
upon purportedrecovered
memories
offers
more useful data,
at
least
about accusations made
by adults against their
parents.A legal survey
of 78 criminal ases
done in September, 996,
found that
in theUnitedStates
from1989through arly
1996,
47
cases
(60%) involved adult
allegations
of
ritual
abuse (FMSF,
personal communication,
/96). By
the early
1990s,
many adultformer sychotherapy
atients
had retracted heir
memoriesof
SRA and filed malpractice
awsuits against
theirformerherapists
nd hospitals.
Another egal survey
done by
the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation con-
ducted on 59
civil
awsuits
between
1991 and
1997
found
34
cases (57%)
involved
purportedmemories
f SRA (FMSF Legal Survey
1998).
The
rapid
rise and decline of
SRA accusations
gives
evidence
to the
volatility
f
a
moral panic.
Claims about
ritual child abuse
by
satanic cults began
to
appear
rather uddenly.
The oldest known
satanic
cult survivor ccount was published
in 1980 in the
book,
Michelle
Remembers
Smith
and Pazder
1980).
SRA
testimoni-
als, accusations
and
rumors pread rapidly
thereafter
n the
United
Statesduring
the
early
1980s
and thendeclinedrapidlyduring
he
early
1990s.
There s
evidence of
widespread
concern
nd
hostility
n
response
to SRA accu-
sations. t can be found n satanic cult crime ccounts n the mass media: in popu-
lar books
and
magazine
articles,
n
small-town
newspaper
articles,
and on
television
talk shows
(Hicks
1991;
Victor
1993a).
Evidence
can
also
be
found
in
records
from
RA
professional
raining
eminars
for
psychotherapists
nd
social
workers offered
t
professional
conferences,
nd in
continuing
education
pro-
grams
at
colleges (Mulhern
1991, 1994;
Nathan
and
Snedeker
1995).
Further vi-
dence can
be
found
in the hundreds of accusations
of SRA
against
parents
and
childcare
workers,
many
of
which
have led to civil and criminal rials.
There s
evidence
that
SRA
accusations
were
regarded
as
being
real and seri-
ous
by
sizable
segments
of the American
population.
A 1994 national
survey
reported n Redbookmagazine, forexample,foundthat 70 percentof Americans
believe
that at least some
people
who claim that
they
were
abused
by
satanic
cults as
children,
ut
repressed
he memories
for
years,
re
telling
he truth
Ross
1994:88).
Further
vidence
of widespread
belief n the existence f
the
SRA comes
from
1989
Texas statewide
telephonepoll,
which
found
that
80% of
the
respon-
dents
believed
that Satanism
is
an
increasing problem
in American
society
(reported
n
Crouch
and
Damphousse
1992).
In
addition, survey
research
has
found
that
a sizable
percentage
of
American and
British
sychotherapists,
ocial
workers
and counselors
believe SRA
accounts,
in
part
or
whole,
as
accurate
accounts of
satanic
cult
crime;
or
at least attribute
redibility
o them
Andrews,
Morton,
Bekerian,Brewin,
Davies,
and Mollon
1995;
Bottoms,
haver,and Good-
man
1996; Poole,
Lindsay,Memon,
and Bull
1995).
This
research
means that
hou-
sands of
professionals
who
claim
authority
n
understanding
human
behavior
believe
that here
xists
real threat
rom atanic cult child
abusers.
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546
SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVES Volume
1,
Number
,
1998
Finally, here s evidence that he
societal
reaction o the claims was
dispropor-
tionate o the threat
osed by
SRA.
So
far,
no law enforcementgencyor research
studyhas
found the kind
of
physical
evidence needed to
support
accounts of
SRA. No one has turnedup written r electronic ommunications, ank account
records,meetings n
process,
members who can identify eaders, or
any
of the
vast number of
bodies
of
people
supposed murderedby satanic
cults. Official
government eportsfrom
everal
countries
ould
find
no
such evidence to
sup-
port claims about SRA. These
reports nclude those from the
Department
of
Health
of
the
United
Kingdom La
Fontaine
1994); from he
NetherlandsMinistry
of
Justice 1994); from heBehavioral
Science Unit of the FBI
(Lanning 1992); and
state agencies
in
Michigan
(Michigan State Police 1990), Virginia
VirginiaState
Crime Commission Task Force
1991),
and
Washington Parr 1996).
In
addition,
national
survey of psychotherapists ould not find a single SRA accusation
reportedby
the
psychotherapists,
here
therewas reliable evidence to
corrobo-
rate SRA
accusations from ither
hildren r adults (Bottoms, haver,
and Good-
man 1996). In
the reports of psychotherapists
about their patients' SRA
accusations, here
s
no
convincing xternal
orroborating vidence for heexist-
ence of satanic
cult
criminals,
n either
organizationsor
intergenerationalamily
clans.
The
only social
phenomena
that
exists
which
bares
any resemblance to SRA
claims are
teenage
delinquents
and
mentallydisordered
killers
who
call
them-
selves satanists .
However,
these deviants do not
constitute n
organization,
criminal etwork r a religious ult.Therefore,ntheabsenceofany scientific vi-
dence to confirm he
existence of
organized groups
that
torture nd
sexually
abuse
children
n
satanic
rituals,
t
s reasonable to
suggestthatthe societal
reac-
tion
to SRA
claims has been
excessive.
PART
II: THE
CAUSES OF MORAL
PANICS
Theoretical
Models
of Moral
Panics
Goode and
Ben-Yehuda
(1994)
offer hree
heoreticalmodels for
nalyzing
the
causes ofmoral panics: 1) the grass rootsmodel, 2) the elite-engineeredmodel
and
3)
the
nterest
roup
model. These
models can be used to
understanddiffer-
ent
types
of moral
panics.
The
GrassRoots
Model-suggests
that moral
panic arises
spontaneously cross
a
broad
spectrum
of a
society's
population.
The concern and
anger about the
threat rom
perceived
moral deviants
s
a
response
to
persistent
nd
widespread
social
stresses. Anxieties
arising
from
these social stresses are not
able to
gain
direct
xpression. nstead,
the
anxieties
re
displaced
and directed
oward social
deviants,
who become
regarded
as the cause of concern.
Newly
detecteddeviants
essentially
function s collective
capegoats
for
the
anxieties ransferredo them
(Victor 1992). The targeteddeviants are perceived throughcultural symbols,
which reflect he
real,underlying
ocial
stresses.
The actions of
special interest
roups
are not
necessary
to
promotemoral out-
rage
directed at the
newly perceived
dangerous deviants. The mass media and
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Moral
anics
nd
Social onstruction
fDeviant ehavior 547
social control uthorities asically
reflect ublic opinion about the reality f the
threat.The key argumentof the
grass roots model is that theseagencies cannot
fabricate ublic concernwhere
none previously xisted.However,
particular rig-
geringevents,or catalysts,mayprovoke sudden outbreaksofthe moral outrage.
The role of
a
contemporaryegend
in the
grass rootsmodel of
a moral panic is its
function s a catalystfor sudden outbreakof collectivebehavior,
such as in an
aggressive mob.
An
example
of a
grass
rootsmoral panic occurred
n
France n 1968,when wide-
spread
rumors
n
several cities accused
Jewish lothing
tore owners ofkidnap-
ping teenage girls in their stores
and
selling them into forced
prostitution,
controlled y
international riminal yndicates Morin 1971).Mobs attackedJew-
ish-owned clothing tores.The contemporary egend storywas
based on centu-
ries-oldethnicstereotypes nd folklore bout Jews as kidnappers of Christian
children
Hsia 1988; Langmuir
1990).
A
similar
grass-rootsmoralpanic resulted
in a series of over sixty ocal
and
regional rumor-panics cross
the United States
from 983 through 993,
n
response
to
a
contemporaryegend
about secret, rim-
inal satanic cultswhichsupposedly kidnapped blond, blue-eyed
virgins, oruse
in ritual sacrifice Victor 1989; 1991; 1993a).
Another
xample
is
the
moral panic
involving contemporary egend
storiesabout sadists who purportedly
ive chil-
dren
poisoned
or
dangerous
treats
orHalloween
trick-or-treat,
hich sometimes
lead
to local
scares
about Halloween sadists
Best
and Horiucht
1985).
The Elite-Engineered
odel-suggests
that a
powerful
elite can orchestrate
moralpanic. The eliteuses themajor nstitutionsf a societyto promotea cam-
paign
to
generate
and sustain
public
moral
outrage
about
a threat rom
target
categoryof
deviants. The actual
intention f the
campaign
is to divert
ttention
away
fromreal
problems
n a
society,
he solution of which would
threaten he
economic
and
political
nterests f
the elite. The elite fabricates
description
f
the
threat nd uses
the nstitutions
f
society, ncluding
the mass
media, religion,
and law
enforcement,
o
shape public opinion.
The threat rom
upposed danger-
ous
deviants is
invented,
or
at
least
exaggerated,by
the
elite,
to serve
its own
vested interests.
A
contemporary
egend
can be
employed by
a
powerful
elite
to
influence
ublic opinion
about a
fictitious
hreat,
n
orderto divert ttention rom
social problems.
In Medieval
times,
he
hierarchy
f
the
Catholic Church
organized
moral
panics
and
persecutions
directed
t the Cathar heretics nd
later
the
KnightsTemplars.
Another
xample
of
an
elite-engineered
moral
panic
occurred
fter
zarist
agents
used
the
Jewish onspiracy
egend
to
arouse
moral
outrage against
the
Jews,
s a
means
of
diverting
ttention
nd
anger away
from he
problem
of
widespread
poverty
n
Russia.
The moral
panic
lead to
organized
mob
attacks
nd
massacres
of
Jewishvillagers.
Other moral
panics
orchestrated
y
an elite
which ed
to
eth-
nic mass murder,
nclude
the murderof
about
a
million Chinese
Indonesians
in
1965 organized by the Muslim-led army, nd
the
mass murder of hundreds
of
thousands
of Tutsi
citizens
n
Rwanda
in
1994
organized by
Hutu
leaders.
The
Stalinist
purges
and
persecution
of millions
of
fabricated
nternal
nemies
of
the
Soviet Union
is
another
example.
An
example
of this
type
of moral
panic
in
American
society
s
that of 1950s anti-Communist
witch-hunt n
American soci-
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SOCIOLOGICALPERSPECTIVES Volume
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Number
,1998
ety.
This moral
panic
has been
interpretedalbeit
a controversial
nterpretation)
as having been deliberately rchestrated
y
the American
corporate
nd
political
elite,
as
a
way
of
destroying ocialist
and union
organizing Gibson
1988;
Irons
1974).
The nterest
roup
Model-suggests thatmoralpanics are
an
unintendedconse-
quence
of moral crusades launched
by specific
nterest
roups
and their
ctivists,
who attempt o focus public attention n moral evils that
theyperceive
to be
threats
to
society.In modern
times, many
interest
groups
direct their efforts
toward
presenting
heir
oncerns
n
the mass
media in
order to influence
ublic
opinion. Interest
roups
and
their
moral
entrepreneurs
sually sincerely
elieve
that heir
ffortserve a moral
cause beneficial
o the whole
society.Nevertheless,
their
ffortslso function o advance their wn
group's social
influence, restige,
wealth and ideological goals. As these interest roupsbecome increasingly uc-
cessful
n
influencing ublic
opinion, they
timulate
esistance nd conflict rom
competingnterest
roups.
The
interest roupmodel
suggests
that moral
threat
expressed
n a
pre-existing
ontemporaryegendstorymay
be
consistent
with
the
moral concernsof certain
nterest
roups
and can be
employed
by
them
as
an
instrument o
influence ublicopinion.The
contemporaryegendmay also serve
to enhance
an
interest roup's
credibility
nd
authority
n
some
special
area of
moralconcern.
An
example of
a
moral panic
prompted by interest roups is
the white sla-
very scare,
which
occurred
n
the
U.S
from
907 to
1914.
The
white
slavery care
was a productof a moralcrusade against prostitutionromotedby fundamental-
ist Protestants nd the
women's
Suffragette
movement. During this scare, the
mass media aroused
public opinion by
publishing many stories claiming that
organized
criminal
yndicates
kidnapped
young
women
and forced them
into
prostitution. undreds of
unmarried, ohabiting
young men, as
well as adulter-
ous lovers were
accused
of
engaging
in
white
slavery;
some of whom
were
arrested nd
imprisoned Langum
1994).
Another
example
of a
moral
panic sparked
by
interest
groups
is the
baby
parts scare that occurred n
several Latin America countries.A
contemporary
legend
claims that
poor
children re
being
kidnapped
and
butcheredforuse of
their ody partsby wealthyNorthAmericans ntransplant urgery. ommunists
and
other eftists n Latin
America used the
baby parts
contemporaryegend to
attack American
capitalism
and
to benefit heir
political
and
ideological goals
(Campion-Vincent 990, 1997).
The rumorshave
resulted n
physical
attacks
on
Americans. As
recently
as
1994,
two American women in
Guatemala
were
attacked
bymobs,
which believed
that he women
were
searching or hildren o
kidnap (Johnson 994; Lopez
1994).
Another
example
of a moral
panic prompted
by
interest
groups
was
the
stranger-danger
uring
the
1980s.
Best
(1990)
showed how
contemporaryeg-
end
stories about crimes
against
children
ncluding,kidnapping,
child
murder,
child
pornography,
rose
from
o
exaggerated
claims made
by child-protection
organizations.
A
series
of
similarmoral
panics
arose
in
Great
Britain
t about the
same
time,
hat inked
concerns bout serial
sex
murders,
homosexual
pedophile
rings,
exual child abuse and
satanic
ritual
abuse. Jenkins
1992) showed
how
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nd
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these moral panics were caused by exaggerated claims about
threats o children
made by several nterest roups including, hild protection
rganizations, rotes-
tantfundamentalists,nd feminist roups.
False Accusations and the Social Construction f
ImaginaryDeviants
How is it possible that
a
moral panic could be caused by widespread accusa-
tions
of
crime, acking
n evidence that he
criminals
ven
exist?The key nsight s
that ccusations
of crime
re a
claims-making ctivity. alse accusations can con-
struct
maginarydeviants,
when social controlauthorities
ystematically egiti-
mize the
accusations.
Criminologist
lliottCurriehas shown how
even when
deviant
acts
are
purely
imaginary, s is the case ofwitchcraft,eople can alwaysbe found and fitted nto
the
stereotype
f
the
deviants. Currie's
1968) study
of the
European witch-hunts
suggests
that
particular
ombination
f
four ircumstances
aused false
accusa-
tions of witchcrafto be
affirmed
y
authorities s evidence
of
that some people
were
witches.
First,
here
was
widespread
belief
n
and
fear
of
secret, onspirato-
rial witches who supposedly practiced
black
magic to
harm
people. Second,
in
response,
there
gradually
evolved
a
new
occupation
of
experts specialized
in
detectingwitches,
the
witch-finders.
hird,
the witch-finders sed
ambiguous
tests spectral evidence)
to
detect
witches,
so
that
people
accused
were
almost
automaticallyfound guilty.This confirmed heirexpertiseand enhanced the
authority
f the witch-finders.
ourth,
he
ideology
of
traditionalChristian
eli-
gion concerning
atan's
corrupting
nfluencefueled the
Inquisition'ssearch
for
any
kind
of
potential
heretic.
False accusations
are a
necessary part
of
a moral
panic.
In order for a
moral
panic
to
take hold
among
a
large
number
of
people,
it s
necessary
for
ome
peo-
ple to
be
publicly
dentified
with the
perceived threat,
ven if
the deviance of
whichthey
re accused is
purely maginary.
t
is
necessary
for
group
thatfeels
threatenedto find visible
scapegoats.
Klemke and Tiedeman
(1990)
studied
a
wide
variety
f false accusations
of
crimes
and
false
abeling
of
persons
as
devi-
ants,
n order to determine he kinds of social conditions hat ncreasethepreva-
lence of
false
accusations.
They
found
that three
social conditions tend to
be
associated
with
increases
in
false accusations.
One,
there
exists
a
widespread
belief
n a
society
that
a
threat xists from
new kinds of
deviants.
Two,
there s
competition
between newer and more traditional
agencies
and authoritiesof
social
control over
jurisdictions
f
authority.
he
newer authorities
ttempt
o
expand
and
justify
heir
uthority. hree,
he
nvestigation
f the
newly perceived
deviance relies on
diagnostic
nstruments
nd
tests,
which
are
oversimplified
nd
ambiguous;
and
therefore, asily
make errors
n
identifying
eviants. want to
suggesta fourth ocial condition hatproducesfalseaccusations drawn frommy
research
Victor1993a).
t s one thatresults
n a
distinctly
moralistic
erception
f
the
deviance:
symbolic
resonance of
the
perceived
threatwith a
demonology to
be explained shortly).
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Volume
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Number
,1998
THE CAUSES OF MORAL
PANICS:
THE CASE OF RITUAL CHILD ABUSE
The following nterpretationf the causes of the moralpanic over satanicritual
abuse is
offered s
a
case study illustration f social
dynamics
of the
interest
groupmodel of moral panics. It
also illustrates ow
false accusations of deviance
during
moral
panics
can
construct
urely maginary
eviants.
Widespread Belief
in
a
Threat fromNew Forms of Deviance
Belief n a
potential hreat rommoral deviants
must spread widely
n a
society,
before moral
panic
can
get started.How
did
belief
n a
threat rom
ecret atanic
cults
spread
widely
in
American
society?
Most
past
studies
of
moral
panics
assume that belief n a new threat
frommoral deviants is
largely
a
product of
mass media sensationalism McRobbie and Thornton1995). However, this was
not the
case
in
the satanic cult
scare. Instead,
the
mass
media
basically
dissemi-
nated the
claims of authorities resented as being so-called
experts
n
detecting
satanic cult crime.
Crouch and
Damphousse
(1992)
carried out
a
content
nalysis
of satanic cult
scare stories
n
eight major
citynewspapers
in
the
U.S.
They
concluded that
the
newspapers provided
a
forumfor
purportedexpertswho claimed to be able to
identify
he
symptoms
f
satanic
cult
crime local
police, clergy,
nd
psychothera-
pists).
However,
the
newspapers did not deliberately ry o inflame umors
bout
thesecrimes. n myown research, came to a similar onclusion about the roleof
the
mass
media. The
moral
panic involving
SRA
spread
widely only
after
ome
segments
f
the
mass
media
popularized
the
claims
of
authoritieswho
lent
credi-
bility
o rumorsand
accusations about
satanic
cult crime
Victor
1993a:253-255).
Specifically, laims-making
rom
he
so-called
expertswas
rare n
large city
news-
papers
and
largely bsent on national
television
news. In
contrast,
laims-making
bythese
experts
bout satanic cult crime
was common on national television alk-
shows,
n
small-town
newspapers,
and
in
Christian
eligious
books.
Timing is also crucial to the
emergence of a moral panic. The moral
panic
involving
SRA
began
at a
time,
n the
early 1980s,
when
several similar moral
panics involvingthe motif of violent victimizationof children had emerged.
There
was
already widespread
belief that child
sexual abuse was much
more
common than had
previously
been
thought Howitt
1992).
In
the
early 1980s,
therewas
already
moral
panic
over
crimes
gainst
children, nvolving
laims
that
thousands of
childrenwere
being kidnapped, sexuallyassaulted
and
murdered
(Best
1990).
As
a
result,
he
generalpublic
was more
receptive
o
the
authorities
that
ent
credibility
o SRA
stories,
hanhad the
timing
een
different.
The
Expansion
of
Authority
n
Social
Control
Authority lays
a
key
role
n
defining orms
f deviant
behavior.
Authoritylso
provides legitimacy or claims about new threats o society.Established nstitu-
tional authorities o not
easily
regard
new
claims about
threats
o
society
s
being
credible.
However,
when
new forms f
authority egin
to
develop
and to
com-
pete
for
power
over
a
jurisdiction
with
previously
established
authorities,
he
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anics
nd
ocial onstruction
f
Deviant ehavior
551
newer authoritiesmay
be
tempted
o
use
a
newly perceived
threat
o
expand
their
power.
In such
conditions,
he newer
authorities
re
likely
to
over-reach
heir
expertise
nd attribute
redibility
o false accusations of victimization
y
a
newly
discoveredthreat. believe that his s thekeyfactor hat ed to the egitimization
of SRA accusations.
Some
sociologists
who
specialize
in
the
study
of deviant behavior believe
that
the
most mportant
ontemporary
ocial
change affecting
uthority
o define
the
meanings
of deviance
is
the
process
of the
medicalization of social control
Con-
rad
1992; Conrad
and
Schneider
1992).
n the twentieth
entury,
he
social
author-
ityto define and
interpret
eviant
behavior has
gradually
shifted rom
eligious
and
political
authorities,
o medical and
mental health
authorities.Medical and
mental health
authorities
ommonly
view deviant
behavior
through
he
lens of
the
medical
model,
as
being
a form f
sickness
rather
han as
sin or
crime.
ncreas-
ingly,
awmakers,
courts and the
general
public
call
upon medical and mental
health
authorities o function s social control
uthorities.When
theseauthorities
offer
udgements
about
psychological
health and
illness, they
make
implicit
judgements
about
good
and evil.
(The
concept
of
sickness
as
a
departure
from
biological
homeostasis is
relatively
alue-free.
However,
it
is difficult
o
escape
moral
judgementsimplicit
n
any
concept
of
abnormality ,
when
applied
to
human
behavior.)
A
good example is how
homosexual
behavior was first
efined
by religious authorities s
a
sin,
and then
redefined
y medical
authorities psy-
chiatrists)
s
a
psychological
ickness.More
recently,
n
1973,
homosexual behav-
iorwas again redefined ypsychiatrists nderpoliticalpressure, nd normalized
as an
expression
of
a
gender-orientation
Bayer
1987). Medical
and
mental
health
authorities
till
ommonly
nterpret
he
nature
of
deviant
alcohol and
drug use, as
being forms f mental
llnesses Johnson nd
Waltezko1992;Roman
1988).
One
consequence
of the
medicalization of
social control
s
that
medical and
mental health
authorities ave been
drawn,
however
reluctantly,
nto the
arenas
of
politics, awmaking,
and
legal judgements.
Other
authorities,
uch as
legisla-
tors, olice,
udges,
and
juries,
ncreasingly elyupon
their
expertise .
The medi-
calization of
social control
is
a
product
of
American
society's confidence
n
medical
techniques
o
manage
life's
problems. t
s
not the
result
of any
deliberate
planningon thepart of medical and mental healthauthorities. he metaphorof
deviance as
sicknessnow has
such
a
powerful
nfluence
n
American
popular cul-
ture
that
rapists,
erial
murderers, hild
molesters,habitual
gamblers, xcessive
dieters,people
who commit
uicide,
and even
members
of
unconventionalreli-
gious
cults are
commonlyportraryeds sick
people in
mass media entertain-
ment.
As
a
consequence,allegations
of
psychological
abnormality ftenreplace
allegationsof
mmorality
n
everydaydiscourse.
Pfohl
1977) provides
an excellent
ocial
constructionist
nalysis of the
political
developments
eading
to the
redefinition
f violent
physical
aggressionby par-
ents
against
children from
crime,
to a
public health
concernrelabeled child
abuse
(see
also
Howitt
1992).
Indicationsof
severe
physical
trauma
n
a child, n
cases of a
suspected
crime
were
initially
edefined
s symptoms of
the battered
child
syndrome .
Thereafter,medical
and
mental health
experts,ratherthan
police,
became the
authoritiesrelied
upon
to define
the
indicatorsof
criminal
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behavior.Parents
suspected of child
abuse were redefined
s possibly
sick
personalities
nd treated as
patients ,rather
han being
treatedas suspects
of
crime,
nd therefore, ullyprotected
by civil liberties aws. Medical
and
mental
healthauthoritieswere inevitablydrawn,howeverreluctantly,nto egal judge-
ments fparents
uspectedofengaging
n child
abuse. Some ofthem
obbied gov-
ernment ornew
laws and more funds
to deal
with what they claimed
was the
discovery
fthe
new and widespread
public healthproblem
of childabuse .
The
mass
media
sensationalizedreports
bout a newly discovered
epidemic
of child
abuse ,
even though there
was no scientific
vidence that violent
physical
assaults
against children
had increased
over past decades.
We can understand
he
social
constructionhe
of concept
of ritual hild abuse
as
similarly product
of
the medicalization of social control.
The concept is an
extension f sensationalized
concern bout
an epidemic of
child abuse, and later
sexual child abuse. Initially, ome
mentalhealth specialists
who claimed
to
have
developed
new
medical techniquescapable of
detecting llegal sexual
contact
between adults
and
children
sexual
child abuse )
believed
that their
clients'
accounts
of sexual
victimization y secret
atanic cults
might e
true.
These
men-
tal healthprofessionals
ncluded some psychotherapists
pecialized
in
the treat-
ment of
mental disorders
characterized
y
dissociated
memoryprocesses.
They
claimed
that
hese disorders
were
caused
primarily
y
sexual activity
orced
pon
a childby
an
adult.
Mulhern
1991,1994,provides
a detailed
history
f the roles of
these
mentalhealth
professionals
n the
social construction
f
SRA.)
These
mental
healthprofessionals lso included some childprotection ocial workersspecial-
ized
in the detection
nd treatment f
sexually
victimized
hildren.
Nathan
and
Snedeker1995,provide
a detailed
study
of the
history
f the role
of these
mental
health
professionals
n
the
social
construction
fSRA.)
Psychotherapists
pecialized
in
the treatment f dissociative
disorders
and
social
workers
pecialized
in the treatmentf
sexually
victimized
children
were
drawn
into collaboration
with each other.
They
shared
a
similar
focus of
profes-
sional
interest
n
sexual
child abuse
and
they
lso shared
a similar ocial
situation.
These
specialists
were
both struggling
o
gain
greaterrecognition
nd
respect
within heir
arger
ommunity
f
professionals.
f this
mportant
iscovery
ould
be confirmedn thecourts f aw and science, hesespecialistswould obtainwell-
deserved recognition
nd
respect
for
heir
newly developingexpertise.
These
interest
roups
attempted
o
publicize
their
discovery
of
SRA, by
com-
municating
hemto other
professional
pecialists,
nd
also to
the
general
public.
In
doing so, they
nfluenced
professional
nd
public opinion
about claims
con-
cerning
atanic
cult crimes
against
children.
At
first,
hese
specialists
organized
professional
raining
eminarsfocusing
on the
their
echniques
for
detecting
it-
ual
child abuse.
Their audiences
included diverse
types
of
other
therapists;
ut
also self-proclaimed
ictims,
nd interested
on-therapists,
uch as
police,
clergy,
nurses,
and
medical doctors
Mulhern
1991; 1994;
Victor
1993a).
Some of
these
therapists ommunicated heir discovery ofSRA, by publishing rticles n spe-
cialized
professional ournals
and
in
popular
culture
books.
(Examples
can
be
found
n:
Cozolino
1989;1990;
Feldman
1993;
Fewster
1990;
Friesen
1991;
Gould
and Cozolino
1992;
Hill
and
Goodwin
1989;
Hudson
1991;
Kelley 1988;
1989;
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Mayer 1991; Noblitt nd Perskin1995; Ross 1995; Ryder
1992; Shaffer nd Cozo-
lino 1992; Sakheim and
Devine 1992; Smith1993; Smith nd Pazder, 1980; Young,
Sachs, Braun,
nd
Watkins1991).
The discovery of the ritual sexual abuse of childrenby secret satanic cults
thrust hese marginal pecialists
nto the spotlight fmass media attention, ven
when
they
did not seek
it,
because
their
discovery
was so sensational.
The
mass
media
quickly responded
to
the bizarre
accounts of SRA
and invited
these SRA
experts to discuss their
discoveryon television alk-shows, n radio programs,
and
in
newspaper
and magazine articles Victor1993a).
Themass media used the
dramatic laims of these
experts o attract udiences.
Some were also asked to
be
professional dvisors to
socialmovement rganiza-
tions concerned
with sexual child abuse. Some of
them venhelped to lobby state
legislatures ornew laws toprotect hildrenfrom riminal atanic cultsand were
successful
n
obtaining
aws
in
at least
four
states.
The
passage
of
special
laws
against
SRA
then functioned o
provide political egitimacy
o SRA
accusations.
All of these activities
et the
stage
for counter-reaction
o claims about SRA.
When
some
interest
groups
expand
their
authority
nd
power, they almost
inevitably
encounter
opposing
interestgroups.
The SRA
claims
of recovered
memory therapists
nd
child
protection
ocial workers
roused the concernsof
many
behavioral
scientists,
s
well
as
psychotherapists
whose
therapy
was
grounded n behavioral
and
biomedical
treatments.
n
response, hese profession-
als
organized
themselvesto
influence
professional
nd
public opinion, framing
the issue in a civil liberties ontext possiblyfalse accusationsand falsememo-
ries),
rather than one focused
on the
purported symptoms
of
psychologically
abnormalbehavior
Beckett
996).
Faulty Techniques
for
nvestigating
Deviant Behavior
Widespread false accusations
of deviance
are
produced,
when
authorities ely
upon faulty echniques
for
distinguishing
etween
true nd false
accusations.
The
key problem
n
investigations
f accusations of sexual
child
abuse, including
RA
accusations,
s
that
reliable,
cientific
echniques
have
not
yet
been
developed
for
distinguishing etween true and false accusationsof child sexual abuse (Ofshe
and Watters
1994; Pendergrast 1995;
Wakefield
and
Underwager 1994; Yapko
1994). Three types of faulty nvestigative echniques
have
been
used to
detect
SRA:
1)
those
employing
unreliable
ndicators, )
those
resulting
n
false
confes-
sions
and
false
accusations;
and
3)
those
resulting
n
false
memories.
Unreliable ndicators
Faulty techniques
in the
investigation
of sexual child abuse include
highly
ambiguous
check-lists f indicatorsused
by
child
protection
ounselors to
iden-
tify upposed symptoms
of sexual abuse
in
a
child's
personality Nathan
and
Snedeker1995). Ambiguous lists of indicators re also used by psychotherapists
to
dentify
he
supposed long-range
ffects
f sexual abuse
in the
behavior of
their
adult
patients Lindsay
and Read
1994;
Loftus
1993).
When
authorities
elyupon
ambiguous
indicators
of
deviance,
false
accusations
become inevitable.
When
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SOCIOLOGICAL
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authorities elieve that heir
ndicators re
reliable,
n
accusationby
an
authority
figure asily eads to the
presumption fguilt.
False Confessions nd False Accusations
It
was common
for
nvestigators
n
past
moral
panics
to
relyupon manipulative
or coercive
interrogations
o
produce
false
confessions
and
false accusations.
False confessions oerced by
torture
were common
duringthe
European
witch-
hunts.
However, voluntaryfalse confessions f witchcraft lso occurred.
Fright-
ened women
sometimes
voluntarily onfessed o
being
witches nd to
having
had
intercourse
with
theDevil,
thereby ondemning hemselves o death
Cohn
1975;
Jackson 995; Sebald
1990).
The
elaboratelydetailed SRA
accounts from hildren
can
also
be
explained
by
certain
nterrogation
echniques Nathan
and Snedeker
1995). Interaction esearch has
shown how commonlyused
conversationalpat-
ternsduring nterrogationsetween childprotectionworkersand children us-
pected
of
being
sexuallyabused,
can
easily
prompt child'sfalse confirmation f
abuse,
due to the
adult's
authority
nd
child's
fear
of
coercion.
Lloyd 1992).
False Memories
Survey
researchhas found that
those
psychotherapists
ho claim
to have had
patients
with
memories
of
SRA,
are
also
those
who
are
most ikely ouse mem-
ory recovery echniques
Bottoms, haver,
and
Goodman
1996). Many cognitive
psychologists
uggest
that
he
memory ecovery echniques
mployed by
some
therapists o uncover long forgotten repressed memories of childhood sexual
abuse,
are the
means
by
which
false
memories
are
elicited
(Lindsay
and
Read
1994;
Loftus
1993). (Currently,here s heated
scientific ebate about whether
r
not
unconscious, repressed memories
ctually xist.)
The label
memory ecov-
ery technique
encompasses
a
very
wide
variety
of
questionable techniques.
These include:hypnosis,guided
imagery
nd
visualization
exercises, tream-of-
consciousness
daily journal
writing,nterpreting
reams as
messages
from he
unconscious,
nterpretinghysical ymptoms
s
bodymemories ,
nd
interpret-
ing
unconscious memories
n
a
patient'sdrawings.
Memory
recovery echniques asily
create
false
memories
resulting
rom hera-
pist suggestion ffectsLindsayand Read 1994). n the nteraction etween thera-
pist
and
patient, patients
respond
to
direct
or subtle suggestions from their
therapists, yofferingccounts
of SRA that
hey
hinkwill
please
their
herapists.
In
their earch for
xplanations
for
heir
mbiguous
anxieties, atients
gradually
come to believe that their
ccounts of SRA are their
own, genuine
memories of
past
events.
The
crucial factor
s
the
effect
f the
therapist's
uthority
n
influenc-
ing
a
suggestiblepatient's
perceptions
bout
ambiguous
anxieties.
SymbolicResonance
with a
Demonology
What is the
mechanism
whereby
shared
moral
beliefs ead to the
consensual
validationofparticular laims and accusationsofdeviance?The conceptofa mas-
ter
frame nd
framing rocesses
has been
employed by
sociologists
o
study
how
the
deologies
of
social
movements
re
linked
to
the
cognitive
chema of ndivid-
ual
participantsHunt,
Benford,
nd Snow
1994; Snow and Benford1992;
Snow,
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Rochford,Worden, and Benford 1986). A master frame functions o organize
selective ttention o particular roblems, o attributemeaning
to them, o articu-
late relevant vents and experiences, o explain the underlying
auses and to pro-
pose solutions. A demonology cognitivelyfunctions ike a master frame for
interpreting ossible threatsto people's shared moral values.
Claims about a
threat rommoral deviants are viewed through he perceptual
ens of culturally
shareddemonologies, speciallywhen
there
s great mbiguity
nd little
manifest
evidence to verify he claims.
Some
anthropologists
se
the term
demonology
to refer o
the
core of a moral
belief
ystem,
hat
cognitively rganizes
that
ystem
f moral thought.
A
demon-
ologyis an explanationof
the ultimate
power thatthreatens o destroy
he
moral
order of
a
society.
tevens
1991:21)defines demonologyas
an
ideology of evil,
a elaboratebody ofbelief boutan evilforce hat s inexorably ndermining oci-
ety's most cherishedvalues and institutions . use the term symbolicresonance
with
a demonology ,to indicate
that
certainpurportedthreatsmay be symboli-
cally consistent, r resonant,
with a
demonology
and are
more ikely o be attrib-
uted
credibility,
whereas others
are
ignored
and
disregarded
because theyare
inconsistent.
he
cultural ymbols of specific laims about
moral threatsmay be
consistent
or resonant)
with
the
demonologies
held
by specific
nterest
roups.
This consistency ontributes o
their
onsensual validation of
the
reality f those
3
claims within
groups3.
In
otherwords, people
who share a moral belief
ystem
re likely oselectively
define certainpurportedmoral threats, nd not others, s ones to be takenseri-
ously by society.
For
example,
n
my
research n
the
dissemination f satanic cult
crime
stories,
I
found that
fearful
satanic
cult
rumors
spread
more
rapidly
throughparticular ocial networks
n
which
people
shared moral beliefs. Curi-
ously, specific
ocial and communication
etworks,
nd
not
others,
unctioned
s
selectiveconduits
for he
contemporaryegend stories,
ransmitting
laims about
threats
nd
giving
the
claims consensual validation
(Victor
1993a). My
research
found
that claims and accusations about SRA
are
symbolically
resonant
with
three different
emonologies.
These are
1)
Christian
raditionalist, )
social con-
servative nd 3) feminist.
TheTraditional
hristian
emonology
People
who
accept
the
Christian raditionalist
emonology
regard
the
ultimate
cause
of
evil,
as
being
due to the activities r
workings
of Satan.
In
this
frame,
Satan-worshippers
re seen as
being
actual
agents
of
Satan,
who
are
trying
o
spread immorality
f all
kinds,
n
order to
destroy
he
moral
order of American
society
nd hasten Satan's
take
over of
the
world.
The
logic
is that f
good people
are
working
for
God,
than evil
people
must
be
working
forSatan.
Thus,
satanic
cult
crime
nd SRA
in
particular
re
simply
more
examples
of
the
growing
moral
corruptionnAmericansocietyby evil people, who rejectGod and true Chris-
tianity Jenkins 992; Jenkins
nd Maier-Katkin
1992; Lippert1990;
Victor
1994).
An
increasing
number of
psychotherapistsdentify
hemselves
as
being
Chris-
tian
therapists . Goleman 1991).
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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Volume
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The
Social Conservative emonology
People who
hold the
social conservative
demonology regard
liberal
permis-
siveness as theunderlying ause of mostsocial evils. In thisframe, ritualistic
crime s seen as
being
a
product
of the hedonistic
pursuit
of
pleasure
and
power
and
the
ncreasing
limate of moral
permissiveness.
RA is viewed as
being
one
more manifestation f the moral decline and
corruption
of American
society,
which has
its source
in
the moral
anarchy
of
the 1960s. The
social conservative
demonology
is
most likelyto
be
found
among
local
police
who are
self-pro-
claimed
experts
n
investigating
atanic cult crime
Hicks 1991).
TheFeminist
emonology
There are different eminist
deologies. Some emphasize
socio-economic
ne-
qualityas beingthe essentialdestructive orce nsociety.However, otherfeminist
ideologies
hold a
demonology
that
regards
male
dominance
in
society patriar-
chy)
and its
exploitation
f
women and children s theessential
underlying
hreat
to the
moral
order
ofsociety.Feminist
psychotherapists
nd
socialworkers,who
hold
the
atter
emonology,
re
those most ikely o attribute
redibility
o
accusa-
tions of SRA (Nathan
1991;
Nathan
and
Snedeker
1995;Victor
1993a). They
frame
SRA accusations
n
terms
f
an
analogy
with
the victimization
f women
by
male
sexual
aggression,
s
in
cases of
rape,
ncestand
sexual harassment.
They
see rit-
ual child abuse
as
one
more
example
of
the
hidden
sexual
exploitation
f women
and
children
They regard skepticismabout
accusations
of
SRA, as one more
attempt y
men
to discreditwomen and
children's
testimony bout
their
exual
victimization y
men.
Yet, they gnore
the
fact hat
many
of the
people
who have
been
accused of SRA
are
mothers
nd
female
childcareworkers.
PART III
CROSS-NATIONAL
CULTURAL
DIFFUSION
OF
MORAL PANICS
Accusations,
claims
and
rumors bout satanic cult crimehave
surfaced
n
many
countries other than the
United
States
since the
mid-1980s. These
countries
include:Canada (Lippert1990),theUnitedKingdom (Jenkins 992; La Fontaine
1994),
Australia
Guilliantt
996; Richardson1997),New Zealand
(Hill and Bar-
nett 1994), the
Netherlands (Netherlands Ministry of Justice
1994), Norway
(Dyrendal
1998),
and Sweden.
Some
psychotherapists uggest
that
the vivid
accounts of
SRA, givenby
children nd adult
psychotherapy atients
n
so
many
different
ations,
re evidence that
ecret,
riminal atanic cults
exist around the
world.
They
assume that t
s impossible for ccounts of
victimization hat re so
similar,
o surface bout the same
time,
n
so
many
distant
countries.
However,
sociologists
nd
anthropologists
who are familiarwith
past examples
of cultural
diffusion
re
likely
o be
quite skeptical
of such an
assumption.
One informativexample tookplace in the twelfth entury nd involvedaccu-
sations
remarkably
imilar
to those of ritual child
abuse.
Accusations of
ritual
child murdermade
againstthe
Jewsoriginated
n
twelfth
entury ngland, then
traveled
quickly
cross the
English
Channel
to northern
rance,
nd from here
o
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Germany,
pain
and the restofChristianEurope
(Langmuir1990).
These
false
accusations
spread
across
manydifferent
ocieties, ong
before
the existence
of
modern
mass
media. The
accusations
are known
as the blood
libel .
A study of cross-nationalcultural diffusionbetween social movementsby
McAdam and Rucht 1993)
offers
sefultheoretical rinciples
for
understanding
thecultural
diffusion f collective
behavior. McAdam
and Rucht's
study s partic-
ularly
mportant,
ecause
moral
panics
are
spread
by
social movements,
t
least
in
part.
In the
case
of SRA
accusations,
Christian
fundamentalist nd
feminist
social movements
played
a
centralrole. McAdam
and Rucht emphasize
thatthe
transmission
f
new ideas fromone society
to
another s more likely,
he more
similar
the
culture,
ocial
organization
and social roles
in
the
recipient
ociety.
Particularlymportant
or
the transmission
f
new
ideas
between social
move-
ments
are similarities
n
language,
ideologies
and
the
occupations
of activists.
Secondly,
McAdam and Ruchtsuggestthattheremust exist social networksof
contact
nd channelsofcommunication
etweenpeople playing
similar
nstitu-
tional
roles
in
the sending
and
recipient
ocieties.
More
specifically,
heremust
first
e to
be
direct,nterpersonal
ontacts.
These direct
ontacts ctivate elective
attention
o
indirect hannels
of
communication,
uch as
newspapers,
magazines,
television,
adio,books,
and
professional
ournals.
There are
significant
ifferences
etween the cross-national
diffusion f
new
ideas used by social
movements
nd
the diffusion f
the causes of moral
panics.
The
main content
ransmitted
etween social
movements
nvolves movement ac-
tics and the elaborationof deological theory.n contrast,he main content rans-
mitted
n
moral
panics
involves:
1)
contemporaryegend
stories,claims,
and
accusations
about
a
newly perceived
threat rom eviants,
nd
2)
new
techniques
fordetecting
eviants.
Unfortunately,
here
s
space
in this article
nly
to
outline
my
findings
bout
the transmission
f
these
contents
bout
satanic cult crime
from
he
UnitedStates
to other countries.
My sources
included newspaper
and
magazine
articles,
s
well as
personal
communications
with
scholars
in
other
countries
Victor1993a).
Similarities
between
Transmitter
nd
Adopters
One obvious similarityetweenthe various societies nwhich sataniccult crime
stories
have
appeared
is
that of
language.
All are
societies
n
which
English
is
either
he
primary
anguage,
or
a common second
language.
The shared
anguage
facilitates apid
communication,
oth
through
direct
nterpersonal
ontacts
and
through
ndirect hannels
of communication.
A
second
similarity
s
the existence
of sizable population
subgroups
that
hare
ideologies
containing
he
same
demonologies.
More
specifically,
ll the
societies
where SRA
accusations
have
surfaced
ontainrelatively
nfluential
roups
of
fun-
damentalist
rotestant hristians,
s
well as feminists.
Anotherkey
similarity
s the existence
f similar
occupations.
n
these
societies,
medical and mentalhealthprofessionals especiallypsychotherapistsnd child
protection
workers),
undamentalistlergymen,
ocal
police,
and
journalists
have
publicized
claims about
satanic cult
crime.
Many
of the
claims-makers
n
these
occupations
hold
either Christian
raditionalist
r
feminist
emonology.
These
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558 SOCIOLOGICALPERSPECTIVES Volume 1,Number ,1998
professionals re able to make personal contactwith theirAmericancounterparts
at nternational onferencesn theUnited Statesor n theirhome countries. here-
after, hey stablishmore personal social
networks nd channels of communica-
tion.
A contrastwith a culturewhere claims about satanic cult crimehave not taken
root s useful. n France, SRA accusations being made in American society and
nearby England are regarded
with
ridicule,
f they are known at all. Journalists
and
popular
writers re often
uite
critical f the
foibles
of American ulture nd
often esistant
o what
they onsiderto
be
cultural
fads
coming fromAmerica.
n
France,only 17% of
the
population believe
in
the existence f the Devil compared
with
65%
in
the
U.S., according
o
opinion polls
(Gallup 1982:98).Fundamentalist
Protestantism as no political significance. rench feminism,which centers ts
demonologyupon a critiqueof the capitalist lite and socioeconomic njustice, s
ideologically quite
different
rom Anglo-American
feminism. t is likely that
cross-national, ersonal
contacts etween
people
in the
ame occupations,
uch as
medical
doctors,psychotherapists
nd
police,
are
relatively ncommon,
due
in
part to language
and
culturaldifferences.
Channels
of
Communication
Americans communicated laims about satanic
cult crime to foreignnationals
through
direct
nterpersonal
ontactsat
professional
onferences
or
therapists,
social
workers,police, clergy,
nd
journalists.
These
conferences
were located
in
theUnited States, r n thehome countries,where American experts wereoften
invitedto
share
their
new
ideas.
Some of
these
conferences ffered raining
es-
sions
in
how to
identify
atanic cult
crime,
r
symptoms
f SRA
(Mulhern 1994).
(The spread of
new
ideas via thismeans is
familiar
to many scholars.)
It
is
through
irect ontacts uch as
these,
hat laims about
secret
atanic cults
pread
veryquickly
from
he
U.S.,
to
Canada and
the United
Kingdom
The
indirect,
on-
relational
channels which transmitted atanic cult crime stories from the U.S.
included elements of
the
mass media. Christianbooks about satanic
cult crime
were
quickly reprinted
or
Protestant undamentalists
n
other
countries,
r
sold
in
English-language ersions.
American elevision
alk
shows presenting estimo-
nialsbySRA survivorswerebroadcast n some Englishspeaking countries.They
quicklyproduced
their wn
homegrownproducts
with
imilar
ontent.American
pop
culture
magazines
circulate n
English-speaking
ountries.
Foreignnewspa-
pers
and
magazines reported
tories
bout
SRA,
often
iting
American
experts
in the
study
of SRA.
The
existence f these mass
media
presentations
means
that
some
patients
n
psychotherapy
nd some childrenwere
familiarwith SRA alle-
gations, hortly
fter
hey
first
urfaced n the United States.
More important han
indirect
mass media channels of communication
were
professional
hannels.
Foreign
medical doctors
and
psychotherapists ommonly
subscribe
o
specialized
American
professionalournals,
s
a
source of
new ideas.
The journalof the nternational ocietyfor heStudyofMultiple Personality nd
Dissociation
(Dissociation)
ffered everal
early
articles
dentifying
RA as
a real
and
serious concern
Hill
and
Goodwin
1989).
n
addition,
American-made ists
of
symptoms
f SRA
and
mimeographed
conference
apers
about
SRA written
y
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American
experts
circulated
widely
in
Europe
(Kaye
and
Klein
1987).
These
were then cited as authoritative
ources
about
SRA,
in the
professional apers
of
English-speaking,European
mental health
specialists.
As
a
result, Europeans
were quick to apply t
