Packed with new examples and material, this second edition provides a fully up-to-date exploration of the genesis, dynamics, and demise of moral panics and their impacts on the societies in which they take place. It is also packed with updated and recent examples including terrorism, the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Towers, school shootings, flag burning, and the early-2000s resurgence of the ‘sex slave’ scare. It includes a new chapter on the media, currently regarded as a major component of the moral panic. It devotes a chapter to addressing criticisms of the first edition as well as the moral panics concept itself. It is written by long-established experts in the field. It is designed to fit both self-contained courses on moral panics and wider courses on deviance.