The Night the Raving Died: The Social Construction of a Local Drug Panic

Abstract

Scholars have recently reformulated the moral panic framework (Goode and Ben-Yehuda 1994, 2009). We employ this new framework in an evaluation of Gainesville, Florida's adoption of the anti-rave law. Our findings suggest that both individuals and groups were vital in the construction of an interest group model moral panic that led to the adoption of this law. Although researchers have utilized the moral panic framework in analyzing many social and legal changes over the past 40 years, it has also garnered much criticism. In an effort to further advance the framework, we provide several modifications to Goode and Ben-Yehuda's (2009) most recent reconceptualization and recommendations for future moral panic research.