Mods vs Rockers in the 1960s : Creation of a Moral Panic

Read through and watch the text(s) below and then answer the question that follows in bold print at the end of the post...

One weekend in 1964 residents and holiday-makers in the seaside towns of Brighton, Bournemouth and Margate, were rocked by a sudden influx of young, cool gangs. They were Mods and Rockers, and the culture clash that occurred that weekend, described in the articles below in The Daily Sketch, Daily Mirror and others, has become iconic in the history of youth culture. 

Mods and Rockers were easily identifiable by their distinctive clothing styles: the Mods wore Fred Perry and Ben Sherman designer suits, covered by a Parka jacket; while the Rockers wore leather biker jackets and jeans. Mods also rode European scooters like Lambrettas and Vespas and listened to a mix of Motown, ska and bands such as The Who. 

The Rockers favoured motorbikes and listened to American rock and roll such as Eddie Cochrane and Elvis. Although the movements were short-lived, violent clashes between the two gangs were seized on by the media and used by moralists to exemplify the outrageous liberties enjoyed by Britain’s youths. 

The seafront vandalism and violence described in the newspaper article was later made into the 1979 film Quadrophenia.

The video below shows how the media in the 1960s reported the clashes between mods and rockers and considers whether or not the media coverage exaggerated the scale of events leading to a 'moral panic' in relation to the behaviour of these youth subcultures.

This is evidence of historical creation of collective identity for British youth cultures. 

 

Question

In what ways do the media texts referenced above create a representation of young people as being a danger to society?

They are able to make a representation of the teenagers in the 1960's by saying in the local papers and tv shows that they are 'Wild Ones'. This is to show that they are out of control and it also links back to the film 'The Wild Ones' which came out near the end of the 1950's. Through a lot of the different articles in the newspapers they are represented as 'Wild Ones' and that they are out of control. 

The language that is used throughout the news articles shows that it is like a war when it really isn't. The words like "invade", "charge" and "take-cover" are all terms that are related to war and these are the words that are being used on the front pages of the newspapers. There were also pictures that were chose throughout that shows that it was a very bad place to be at that point. The newspapers only exacerbated the problem, as more people wanted to come down and see what the commotion was all about. This caused a deviancy amplification spiral. This is because as the papers put that story in the paper then more police were getting ready and therefore more Mods and Rockers were going to come and see what was happening and this is why more people were getting arrested as time went on. 

On Monday 30th in March 1964 in the Daily Mirror they were able to get a picture of a Rocker with a police officer there as well. The reason this picture is so shocking is because there is a police dog in the picture and the only reason a police dog is needed is when there is a lot of action and when the police need to take dogs to control the crowds. The picture doesn't actually make it as bad as it was as the dog and the police don't look like they are actually doing anything.