How did the media help create and spread so called ‘moral panic’ surrounding mods and rockers?

The growth and creation of different youth subcultures has been said to be one of the most common causes of moral panic in post-war Britain[1]. Throughout the years, many different youth subcultures have risen to prominence in the UK. Some examples are; teddy boys, skinheads, punks and, what this essay focuses on, mods and rockers. The topic of mods and rockers is interesting to me since I have a family connection since my grandfather was a mod in his youth and so can give me an incite into the events and what life was like for members of this group. A subculture is defined as ‘a cultural group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger culture’[2] and so members of a subculture often stand out to wider society and are easily recognised. This is a part of what makes a subculture as each member adheres to the social norms and trends of that group. Mods and rockers became prevalent in the mid-1960s, after gaining popularity very quickly. This is shown by Stanley Cohen saying that the incidents which they were involved in were ‘without parallel in English history and troop reinforcements were rumoured to have been to quell possible widespread disturbances’[3]. This essay aims to investigate how the media reported these incidents and how this impacted public opinion and spread ‘moral panic’ amongst the British public at this time.

Mods or modernists were recognisable by their fashion, music and scooters, such as the Lambretta (fig. 1) or more famously, the Vespa. The movement was ‘heavily influenced by Italian fashion’[4] with the original mods wearing tailored suits, polo shirts and slim-fit trousers (fig. 2). Music was also important in being a mod; popular bands with a large mod following included The Who, The Kinks and The Rolling Stones. The trademarks of rockers, on the other hand, were their leather jackets, motorbikes and 50s rock and roll, including artists such as Eddie Cochran and Elvis Presley. Rockers fashioned a pompadour hairstyle to accompany their ‘heavily decorated leather motorcycle jackets, often adorned with metal studs, patches, pin badges’[5] and writing (fig. 3), all used to show they were part of the group.

The way in which mods and rockers dressed and presented themselves to the public – especially when considering they would be in large groups or what could be viewed as gangs – it is reasonable to suggest that perhaps their presence alone may have been perceived as threatening to the public and thus sparked some ‘moral panic’. This is suggested by Cohen who says that ‘a word (mod) becomes symbolic of a certain status (delinquent or deviant); objects (hairstyle, clothing) symbolise the word; the objects themselves become symbolic of the status’[6]. This argues that perhaps the connotations of mods and rockers transferred onto their signature clothing and accessories and therefore, these things automatically lead to people being fearful of them. This is further supported by Arnold Hunt who says that ‘the object of the moral panic was not so much the Mods and Rockers as the post-war affluence and sexual freedom that they represented’[7], suggesting that perhaps it was what the groups represented in themselves that cause people to fear them rather than the media. Therefore, it could be said that their appearance and representation may have been a contributing factor behind the so-called moral panic surrounding them at this time rather than it being due purely to the media.

On the other hand, as The British Library’s page says, ‘violent clashes between the two gangs were seized on by the media’[8], suggesting the media’s approach to relaying the news of these events was aggressive. By looking at news headlines at the time, it is evident that the mods and rockers were not viewed in a positive light. Kai T. Erikson said that, ‘a considerable portion of what we call “news” is devoted to reports about deviant behaviour and its consequences’[9] which suggests the clashes between the mods and rockers were or should not have been the only reports of violent behaviour at the time. This then raises the question, of why such an emphasis was put on these and why they had such a large impact on the British public.

It is reasonable to suggest the reaction was partly due to the over-sensationalised headlines used to refer to the events (as demonstrated in fig. 4). For instance, Cohen says, ‘local papers in Brighton referred to ‘deserted beaches’ and ‘elderly holidaymakers’ trying to escape the ‘screaming teenagers’[10], and that in the Daily Express on 19th May 1964, it was written that, ‘there was a dad in a deckchair and mum making sandcastles with the children, when the 1964 boys took over the beaches at Margate and Brighton yesterday and smeared the traditional postcard scene with blood and violence’[11]. These headlines and descriptions of events put across a bleak and violent picture of this day and seem to be dramatised in order to provide a shock-factor. The impact this had on the public was undeniable as people were influenced to be afraid of these groups by what the media was saying. Cohen writes, ‘a large segment of the community reacted to the mods and rockers events as if a disaster had occurred’[12]. This demonstrates how public reaction was huge, despite the fact that a large portion of the British public were not present at these events and so we can assume the way in which these events were re-told in the media impacted the way people felt and/or reacted to them. This also suggests that there was moral panic beginning to emerge and spread at this time as inferred from Cohen’s description of people viewing the clashes as a ‘disaster’.

Not only did the public reaction effect the spread of moral panic and the how people viewed the mods and rockers generally, it also began to effect businesses and other parts of the culture that were not directly involved. Cohen talks about how ‘scooter owners and manufacturers frequently complained about the bad publicity that they were getting’[13], showing that moral panic was indeed spreading as it had gone on to impact more than just the mods and rockers. Therefore, you can see that the news headlines were not only impacting the overall reputation of young people involved in these groups, but industry and businesses that happened to be associated with them by giving them bad press also. This means that the negative and arguably exaggerated news headlines in the media had a huge impact on moral panic, public opinion and how the public saw and thought of mods and rockers. Therefore, the media could be considered the main reason why moral panic was created and spread during this time.

In contradiction to the media reports of the clashes at seaside towns, many accounts of the events in addition to facts and figures, suggests a very different story. Especially in the case of Brighton, there is very little evidence, other than the news headlines, to suggest that the events of the bank holiday were as bad as what was being reported by the press. Evidence for the contrary comes from Cohen who says in response to the headlines of local Brighton newspapers, ‘the beaches were deserted because the weather was particularly bad. The ‘holidaymakers’ that were present were there to watch the mods and rockers [and] there was very little [intimidation] in the Brighton incident’[14]. Although this arguably could be difficult to verify, it seems more plausible when looking at interviews given to the press from the alleged victims of these attacks, the holiday makers. One man said to the Evening Argus – a Brighton newspaper – ‘my wife and I came down with our son (aged 18) to see what all this fun is at the seaside on bank holidays’[15] (Evening Argus, 30 May 1964). Cohen also says that from his own experience coming to Brighton, ‘I was often asked, on the way down from Brighton Station, ‘Where are the Mods and Rockers today?’ and near the beaches, parents could be seen holding children on their shoulders to get a better view of the proceedings’[16]. This certainly does not paint the picture of innocent holidaymakers falling victim to the wrath of these youth groups, but rather that they were part of the attraction of coming to Brighton on a bank holiday and may have even helped trade and business to gain visitors, further going against the portrayals seen in the media.

To extrapolate on this point, I carried out an interview on my grandfather, Peter Burch, who was a mod and very much part of this scene at the time and was there for some of the incidents. I did this in order to get a better idea of what it was like to be a part of this culture at the time and to be involved in some of the extremely publicised events. I also felt that this would contribute to my argument that the media had been exaggerating events. When I asked what him and his friends usually did at the seaside towns they visited, he said:

They (mods) just used to ride along the front posing more than anything, [there was] loads of scooters not many motorbikes. All scooters had mirrors and chrome bars. Occasionally, there was a little fight with the rockers, usually nothing much. [It was] only on bank holidays, when everyone was down there, that they got bother. I just used to watch.[17]

This supports the idea that what the media reported wasn’t the full or completely true story. I then went on to ask directly about the media representation at the time and asked if the newspapers were honest and accurate in his opinion. Burch’s response was:

I think they were exaggerated because it was ‘good’ news saying there was 3000 people there, but in reality, there was only about 10 causing any trouble. The mods were quite peaceful, it was all about showing off and fashion; showing your scooters and clothes more than anything.[18]

Although this could arguably be considered a biased opinion since he was directly involved, and the group he was in was the subject of the news reports in question, it does show the viewpoint of someone involved but also someone who did not participate much in the actual acts that were written about. Therefore, it should be considered useful in this argument as providing support that the media did exaggerate their reports and therefore, were a large contributing factor in the spread of moral panic at this time.

In conclusion, it is undeniable that the mods and rockers had a large presence in the media at this time due to the clashes they themselves got involved in and instigated in some cases. However, it is also clear, as evidenced here, that the media was did not portray the groups in a positive light and did tend to over-sensationalise and exaggerate the events that they were involved in, causing the creation and spread of moral panic, despite there being potential other factors to the fear people felt towards the groups such as their appearance and what they represented in society. Overall, I would argue that the media was the main contributing factor to this and caused the most damage as shown by quote from business owners who were getting a bad press as well as people who were there at the time and seeing the reaction from the public once the events were reported by the papers.

First written January 2019.

Bibliography

Hunt, Arnold. “’Moral Panic' and Moral Language in the Media”. The British Journal of Sociology. Vol. 48.4 (1997), pp. 629-648. JSTOR. Web. 9th Jan 2019.

Kai T. Erikson, Wayward Puritans: A Study in the Sociology of Deviance. New York: John Wiley, 1966. Print.

“Mods and Rockers, 18 May 1964”, Learning Timelines: Sources Through History, The British Library [n.d.]. Web. 9th Jan 2019. http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item105730.html

Peter Burch, personal interview, 9th November 2018. Welwyn Garden City

Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. Oxford: Routledge 3rd ed., 2002. Print.

“Subculture”, Oxford Living Dictionaries, Oxford University Press [n.d]. Web. 9th November 2018

Wayne Hemingway. “The 10 best British youth cultures” The Guardian [10 July 2011]. Web. 14 November 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2011/jul/10/10-best-british-youth-cultures#top

“60s : MOD vs ROCKER”, Blogger. 8 December 2011. Web. 14 November 2018. http://havmyfashion.blogspot.com/2011/12/mod-and-rockers-marie.html

Illustrations

Fig. 1: Mod on Lambretta Li150 scooter, c. 1964. Personal photograph. C. 1964.

Fig. 2: Mod leaning against car, wearing typical mod clothing including polo shirt, c. 1964. Personal photograph. C. 1964.

Fig. 3: Rockers in decorated leather jacket, c. unknown. Michael Gaubert Instagram post, c. 23rd Feb 2016.

Fig. 4: John Frost Newspapers. Daily Sketch article, ‘Wildest Ones Yet’. 1964. British Library Newspaper Archive.

[1] Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. (Oxford: Routledge 3rd ed., 2002.) 1-2 [2] “Subculture”, Oxford Living Dictionaries, Oxford University Press [n.d]. [3] Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. 3 [4] Wayne Hemingway. “The 10 best British youth cultures” The Guardian [10 July 2011]. [5] “60s : MOD vs ROCKER”, Blogger. Word Press, 8 December 2011. [6] Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. 37 [7] Arnold Hunt. “’Moral Panic' and Moral Language in the Media”. The British Journal of Sociology. Vol. 48.4 (1997): 631. [8] “Mods and Rockers, 18 May 1964”, Learning Timelines: Sources Through History, The British Library [n.d.] [9] Kai T. Erikson, Wayward Puritans: A Study in the Sociology of Deviance (New York: John Wiley, 1966) 12 [10] Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. 26 [11] Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. 26-27 [12] Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. 16 [13] Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. 38 [14] Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. 26 [15] Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. 34 [16] Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. 34 [17] Peter Burch, personal interview, 9 November 2018 [18] Peter Burch, personal interview, 9 November 2018