Moral panics seminar: children and youth

The second seminar in our series on moral panics funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) takes place on Friday 17th May at the University of Bath.  This follows a successful launch and first seminar at the University of Edinburgh last year, during which over 50 academics and practitioners from the UK, US and Israel debated the value of moral panic theory in understanding and interpreting some of the major alarms and concerns that have gripped the public in the past few years.

Our three keynote speakers in Bath are drawn from different disciplines and will start the day off with much food for thought and debate. Professor Ian Butler, professor of social work at the University of Bath, will host of the event and lead off the keynotes with a presentation on ‘Scandals and child protection’.

The second speaker is Professor Pat Sikes, professor in qualitative inquiry at the University of Sheffield.  Her speech will explore ‘Researching moral panic’. Our final speaker is Professor Keri Facer, presenting a keynote entitled ‘After the moral panic?’.  Professor Facer is professor of educational & social futures at the University of Bristol.

The afternoon papers will be delivered by a range of international presenters and focus on events relating to children, young people and families.  The topics of the nine papers include: Class and ‘Chavs’ in Britain; an exploration of the press statements of child welfare and protection agencies; child pornography; child protection in Poland; and child trafficking.

Our final seminar will take place at the University of Cardiff in November. Do come along to the Bath or Cardiff event and join in the discussion. This is not a topic that will go away…

Gary Clapton

Gary Clapton is a senior lecturer and BSc Social Work programme director at Edinburgh University
To book your place at the Moral Panics seminar visit: http://moralpanicseminars.wordpress.com/