Pop Culture Panics: How Moral Crusaders Construct Meanings of Deviance and Delinquency

Moral panics reveal much about a society's social structure and the sociology embedded in everyday life. This short text examines extreme reactions to American popular culture over the past century, including crusades against comic books, music, and pinball machines, to help convey the "sociological imagination" to undergraduates. Sternheimer creates a critical lens through which to view current and future attempts of modern-day moral crusaders, who try to convince us that simple solutions-like regulating popular culture-are the answer to complex social problems. Pop Culture Panics is ideal for use in undergraduate social problems, social deviance, and popular culture courses.

Author: Karen Sternheimer
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 12/02/2014
Pages: 160
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9780415748063

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2015

About the Author
Karen Sternheimer is a sociologist at the University of Southern California, where she is a distinguished fellow at the USC Center for Excellence in Teaching. She is also the author of Connecting Popular Culture and Social Problems: Why Media is Not the Answer (2013), Celebrity Culture and the American Dream: Stardom and Social Mobility (2011), Kids Th ese Days: Facts and Fictions About Today's Youth (2006), It's Not the Media: The Truth About Pop Culture's Influence on Children (2003), and is the editor and lead writer for everydaysociologyblog.com. She has provided commentary for NPR, CNN, MSNBC, the History Channel, and Fox News.