Moral panic refers to situations in which an issue is framed as a threat to social norms and values. The threat is amplified and exaggerated, often through the media, resulting in public outcry and moralising responses calling for social or political control. At the heart of moral panic is the idea that the reaction to the perceived threat is disproportionate, and emotional rather than rational.
The concept of moral panic has been deployed in several public health contexts, such as obesity and, more recently, youth vaping. In these instances, public health practitioners raising concerns about the behaviour or condition have been criticised for mobilising moral panic to generate the conditions necessary for regulation or policy change. With respect to youth vaping, the moral panic criticism implies that the problem is not youth vaping itself, but rather an hysterical and unjustified response from those in public health who seek to control or regulate it. This framing is underpinned by problematic epistemological, ontological, and moral assumptions about youth vaping, and undermines support for protective responses for young people focused on equity and wellbeing.
This presentation will (i) describe some of the history of the idea of moral panic, and how it has been applied in public health contexts, especially in response to concerns about youth vaping; and (ii) explore ethical reasons to challenge the moral panic argument for this issue.