AMST 101 University of Massachusetts United States of Americas President Tweets Discussion Moral Panic Assignment Popular Culture is literally “the cultur

AMST 101 University of Massachusetts United States of Americas President Tweets Discussion Moral Panic Assignment

Popular Culture is literally “the culture of the people,” and popular culture texts can include a variety of things including advertisements, popular fiction, graphic novels, television, film, popular music, magazines, videogames, and increasingly, the internet with sites like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook to name a few. Occasionally with popular culture texts that are new and different comes a panic of sorts about how that text threatens society in general or a particular aspect of society – sometimes they’re deemed to possibly cause the downfall of society (to state dramatically). This assignment requires you to find out about a moment in popular culture history when a public scare surrounded a popular cultural text. Remember, it’s can’t just be a disease or an event in American culture – it must be a popular culture text SPECIFICALLY. You need to find a text (and it’s controversy) that has not yet been discussed in the course. For this assignment, you need to find a newspaper or magazine article from the time that your moral panic was happening and then to report about the popular culture production that caused the scare, the circumstances of the scare itself, and then the attitude that the newspaper or magazine seems to be taking about the controversy.

There are five major steps to successfully completing this assignment:

Using the UMB library’s online resources, you will use keyword searches to locate an article that was written at the time of your “scare” you are researching. Your article can be from a newspaper or magazine published anywhere in the US (but it MUST be from the US.)
Save an electronic copy of the article to hand in (or if you have found your article on microfilm, make a printout. Ask a librarian if you’re not sure how to do this.) Upload your article in the appropriate link titled: Moral Panic Article Upload only. If you do not upload your ARTICLE you will lose 15 points from this assignment.
Answer the questions on the Moral Panic Assignment sheet to help you get thinking about this assignment. You can find this in the Fieldwork and Research Assignment tab.
You will need to write a 250-400 word short essay that explains the popular culture production that caused the scare, the circumstances of the scare itself, and then the attitude that the newspaper or magazine seems to be taking about the controversy. In your introduction you should explain where you got the article (so you can use “I,” but the rest of your assignment should have a more historical/college writing tone.) You will need to upload a copy of your paper before the deadline.Please make sure you upload your paper to the correct link.
Your discussion board post for Week 12 will be dedicated to your findings on this. You will do a primary post on your findings and a student response post.

*Please note, riots themselves are not moral panics. In the examples where we discussed riots in class, it wasn’t the riots that were the popular culture texts. The riots were the result of a society’s or group of people’s reaction to or translation of tensions in a society (the zoot suit, or hip hop music that suggested the racial tensions experienced by a community).

For your Primary Post this week, please share with the class the “moral panic” and your findings that you researched for the Moral Panic Assignment. Posts need to be a minimum of 250 words. AMST 101 – ONLINE
Moral Panic Assignment (10% of final grade)
Popular Culture is literally “the culture of the people,” and popular culture texts can include a variety of
things including advertisements, popular fiction, graphic novels, television, film, popular music,
magazines, videogames, and increasingly, the internet with sites like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook to
name a few. Occasionally with popular culture texts that are new and different comes a panic of sorts
about how that text threatens society in general or a particular aspect of society – sometimes they’re
deemed to possibly cause the downfall of society (to state dramatically). This assignment requires you to
find out about a moment in popular culture history when a public scare surrounded a popular
cultural phenomenon. Remember, it’s can’t just be a disease or an event in American culture – it must be
a popular culture text SPECIFICALLY. You need to find a controversy that has not yet been discussed
in the course. For this assignment, you need to find a newspaper or magazine article from the time that
your moral panic was happening and then to report about the popular culture production that caused the
scare, the circumstances of the scare itself, and then the attitude that the newspaper or magazine seems
to be taking about the controversy.
There are five major steps to successfully completing this assignment:
1. Using the UMB library’s online resources, you will use keyword searches to locate an article that
was written at the time of your “scare” you are researching. Your article can be from a newspaper or
magazine published anywhere in the US (but it MUST be from the US.)
2. Save an electronic copy of the article to hand in (or if you have found your article on microfilm,
make a printout. Ask a librarian if you’re not sure how to do this.) Upload your article in the
appropriate link titled: Moral Panic Article Upload only. If you do not upload your ARTICLE you
will lose 15 points from this assignment.
3. Answer the questions on the Moral Panic Assignment sheet to help you get thinking about this
assignment. You can find this in the Fieldwork and Research Assignment tab.
4. You will need to write a 250-400 word short essay that explains the popular culture production that
caused the scare, the circumstances of the scare itself, and then the attitude that the newspaper or
magazine seems to be taking about the controversy. In your introduction you should explain where
you got the article (so you can use “I,” but the rest of your assignment should have a more
historical/college writing tone.) You will need to upload a copy of your paper by the deadline stated
in the course shell. It is due before midnight (EST).Please make sure you upload your paper to
the correct link.
5. Your discussion board post for the week stated in the course shell will be dedicated to your findings
on this. You will do a primary post on your findings and a student response post.
*Please note, riots themselves are not moral panics. In the examples where we discussed riots in
class, it wasn’t the riots that were the popular culture texts. The riots were the result of a society’s
or group of people’s reaction to or translation of tensions in a society (the zoot suit, or hip hop
music that suggested the racial tensions experienced by a community).
Moral Panic Assignment concept developed by Rachel Rubin. Modifications and additions to this assignment, have been developed by
Kelly MacDonald. Moral Panic Handout, designed by Kelly MacDonald.
AMST 101 – ONLINE
Moral Panic Assignment Sheet: This handout is for your use only, and to help you start to gather the
info you need for this assignment. You do not need to turn it in.
Moral Panic: A moral panic is an intense feeling expressed in a population about an issue that
appears to “threaten” the social order.
1. Year/date this moral panic occurred:
2. Bibliographic Information about the newspaper or magazine you’ve chosen regarding this topic:
Title of article:
Publication:
Publication Date:
Author:
3. Topic/text you’ve chosen to research: Give some detailed background information about the cause of
this scare.
Who: (What portion of the population does this moral panic involve?)
What:
Where:
Why: (Elaborate on any other information you think is relevant about this moral panic.)
4. What is the tone or the attitude that the newspaper or magazine seems to be taking about the
controversy? (In other words, how is the author talking about the moral panic? Does it seem like something
that will go away soon? Is the author worried about the long lasting affects?)
Moral Panic Assignment concept developed by Rachel Rubin. Modifications and additions to this assignment, have been developed by
Kelly MacDonald. Moral Panic Handout, designed by Kelly MacDonald.

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