This wide-ranging account of moral panics shows how and why institutions and groups of individuals mobilize around issues and supposed problems by which they feel threatened. From the Renaissance witch craze to the American drug panic of the 1980s, the authors explore the genesis, dynamics, and demise of moral panics - and examine their impacts on the societies in which they take place. Moral Panics is not only the first, serious book-length treatment of a fascinating subject, but also a superb introduction to wider themes in the sociology of deviance and social problems.