1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910253316903321

Autore

Morrison James

Titolo

Familiar Strangers, Juvenile Panic and the British Press : The Decline of Social Trust / / by James Morrison

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London : , : Palgrave Macmillan UK : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2016

ISBN

1-137-52995-4

Edizione

[1st ed. 2016.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (X, 254 p.)

Disciplina

362.760941

Soggetti

Journalism

Communication

Youth—Social life and customs

Crime—Sociological aspects

Juvenile delinquents

Media and Communication

Youth Culture

Crime and Society

Youth Offending and Juvenile Justice

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Trust, Risk and Framing Contemporary Childhood -- 2. 'Worthy' Versus 'Unworthy' Children: Images of Childhood Through Time -- 3. Our Children and Other People's: Childhood in the Age of Distrust -- 4. Commercializing Distrust: Framing Juveniles in the News -- 5. 'Every Parent's Worst Nightmare': the Abduction of April Jones -- 6. Strangers No More: Towards Reconstructing Trust -- Bibliography.

Sommario/riassunto

This book argues that Britain is gripped by an endemic panic about the position of children in society – which frames them as, alternately, victims and threats. It argues that the press and primary definers, from politicians to the police, are key players in promoting this discourse. Using a mix of intergenerational focus-groups and analysis of online newspaper discussion-threads, the book demonstrates that, far from being passive consumers of this agenda-setting 'juvenile panic' discourse, ordinary citizens (particularly parents) actively contribute to



it – and, in so doing, sustain and reinforce it. A series of interviews with newspaper journalists illuminates the role news media play in fanning the flames of panic, by exposing the commercial drivers conspiring to promote dramatic narratives about children. The book concludes that today's juvenile panic – though far from the first to grip Britain – is a projection of the wide-scale breakdown of social trust between individuals in neoliberal societies.