Mods and Rockers, Drunken Debutants, and Sozzled Students

Over the last decade, moral panic theory has affected a paradigmshift in the social construction of deviance and social problems in the United States,without any real debate about its viability. This article raises key questions aboutthis perspective by offering the first ever critique of the seminal case study ofBritish youth subcultures on which the paradigm is based. It argues that when analyzedin the context of contemporary criticism of vandalism, hooliganism, and delinquency, theMods and Rockers case study never justified Cohen’s original criteria for a moralpanic