Historical Investigation - The Development of 'Satanic Panic'
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Course
History
Institution
11th Grade
A 2000 word essay complete with a synopsis, citations and a bibliography on the development of Satanic Panic in 1970s and 80s America. All sources referenced in the essay have been cited and there is detailed evidence supporting the claims made in the essay.
An A grade was received for this essay ...
Explain the development of ‘Satanic Panic’ in the United States during the 80s and 90s
Synopsis
The Satanic Panic of the 1980s in the United States was noted as ‘one of the most famous, prolonged
mass media scares in history,’ resulting in 12 000 unsubstantiated cases of the satanic ritual abuse of
children. Two main case studies referenced in this investigation will be the McMartin case - the initial
accusation of satanic ritual abuse that led to further accusations, essentially a catalyst of the moral
panic - and the novel Michelle Remembers. This investigation will focus on the reasons behind the
mass hysteria experienced in the United States during the time, opposed to the events of the panic
itself. The question allows close examination of the nature of moral panics, using ‘Satanic Panic’ as a
dominant case study and the shaping of American culture between the 60s-90s. Two main case studies
referenced in this investigation will be the McMartin case - the initial accusation of satanic ritual
abuse that led to further accusations, essentially a catalyst of the moral panic - and the novel Michelle
Remembers. The topics discussed in the investigation are the social climate of the 1970s and 1980s,
the growing American middle-class and white flight to the suburbs, changing attitudes towards child
sexual abuse, the rise in popularity of Freudian notion of recovered memories, and the influence of the
media in the shaping of the Satanic Panic. Many of the sources used for this investigation are journal
articles and books.
Historical Investigation
‘Satanic Panic’ was the result of the culmination of the political and social forces that were present in
the 1970s and 1980s. A moral panic beginning in the United States in the 1980s, the Satanic Panic
was noted as ‘one of the most famous, prolonged mass media scares in history,’ resulting in 12 000
unsubstantiated cases of the satanic ritual abuse of children. Due to the prevalence of the conservative
and Christian politics that came with the Reagan era, along with the ever-growing white flight to the
suburbs, fears surrounding satanism and the malfunction of the nuclear family were rife within
American middle-class suburbia. Furthermore, the emergence of new attitudes towards child sexual
abuse created a prominent public issue to regard, opening a door for a lack of suspicion and
overreporting. Freudian thought surrounding psychotherapy and recovered memories formed a
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