Social Panics & Phantom Attackers

A Study of Imaginary Assailants
2024
ISBN: 978-981-97-4271-4
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 350 Seiten, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 481 g

This book provides an accessible overview of one particular type of social panic: that of the phantom attacker. Such panics are characterised by outbreaks of sensational claims of attacks by mysterious figures that seem to emerge from nowhere, attack their innocent human and animal victims, only to vanish without a trace. Taking the recent wave of needle-spiking reports in Europe as a starting point, this book does more than just catalogue such outbreaks historically and geographically. It also ties the phenomenon of phantom assailants to the moral panics literature.

Meticulously investigating archival sources, the authors examine the social construction of social panics and unearth the parallels between contemporary episodes and historical antecedents in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. Focusing on the sociohistorical and -cultural context, they uncover the role of mass media in creating and perpetuating these panics, which respond to anxieties pervading societies at particular points in history.

Written in a lively style, this book is not only of interest for scholars and students of sociology, criminology, social psychology, media studies and history but also appeals to a lay audience interested in urban legends and true crime.

Zielgruppe

Popular/general

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bartholomew, Robert E.

Weatherhead, Paul

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Sozialpsychologie
• Rechtswissenschaften Strafrecht Kriminologie, Strafverfolgung
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

The Bogeyman: An Introduction to Phantom Assailants.- The British Needle-Spiking Panic: A Crime in Search of Criminals.- ‘Welcome to the World of AIDS’: HIV Needle Panics.- The London Monster: An Eighteenth Century Spiking Scare.- Phantom Slashers: From Out of the Shadows.- Mad Gassers and Ethereal Terrorists.- Serial Pet Killer Panics: From the Yorkshire Dog Poisoner to the Croydon Cat Killer.- The Annoyers: Mysterious Sprayers, Pitters, Biters & Crackers.- Beyond Belief: Of Monkey Men and Genital Thieves.

Über Autor(innen)

Robert E. Bartholomew is Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. A sociologist and Fellow for the Center for Skeptical Inquiry, Robert critically investigates pseudoscience, collective behavior, and popular myths. 

Paul Weatherhead  teaches research and critical thinking skills to international students in Manchester, UK. The author of , Paul has also written for  and   .