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.

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

The media in the papers portray the youth as a danger or threat to the society through the use of language and images. 

Referring back to the first headline, 'Beach crowds take cover from battling Mods and Rockers', the use of language is strong in emitting a threatening aura to the rest of the locals. The fact that the crowds are to take cover from the teenagers gives a sense of danger as if the people were put in danger and seek protection. This lead to locals become much more aware of the youth and take safety precautions as if they too were taking cover from them. 

Additionally, the description of the riot as battling between the two subcultures creates an image of a battlefield amongst the members. This, in result, forms an image of both groups being dangerous and reckless. 

This idea is further supported by wildest ones yet, which could be portraying these teenagers as reckless with their actions or out of control, as if they were wild beasts on the loose. 

The strong description on the event of the two subcultures continues as we read on. The article makes a reference to a film in its time, that focuses on the Rockers concept, titled The Wild One. At the same time, they made a play on words by beginning the article 'The Wild Ones...', creating relations with the true Rockers to the portrayal of the characters in the film. The mentions of weapons, such as knives, and injuries that took place at Margate portrays a negative image of both subcultures as they're constantly being related to violence. With the associations to violence helped form the readers bad first impressions on these groups of youths, as they're continuously reminded of the dangers they committed. The figures stating the amount of teenagers being suppressed by the police also gave a brief idea of the population of these subcultures, and how there were possibilities of having one in your neighbourhood. This made locals much more aware of the teenagers on streets.

However, there are some suspicions raised on negativeness being portrayed, such as Margate's heroine, Mrs. Ellen Green. According to the papers, this 50 year old buffet cleaner was able to shoo off 200 teenagers with a mop. The fact that they were frightened by the old lady with a useless item for her defence managed to create some sort of impact on the youth shows that the assumptions of the threats they were emitting were actually false, as the fact that they were scared by the use of the mop doesn't create a very dangerous image of the Mods and Rockers at all. 

Do these articles support or challenge the way in which the collective identity of young people was constructed in contemporary newspaper reports? 

I think that the articles challenge the portrayal of the subcultures in the contemporary newspaper reports. I believe that a lot of the information written by the national newspaper companies was false because they approached the event in a negative way, such as the use of language that emphasised the behaviour of the Mods and Rockers, when in reality they were driven by curiosity and excitement of gathering together in their teams to enjoy the music and the clothes. This formed negative impressions on the collective identity of those groups of young British people. 

The benefits of carrying out an interview (Freddie Freeman) who was involved in the event gave a completely alternative perspective. Where the papers amplified the occurrence of threats and violence to the establishment, and the locals, in truth, a few pebbles were thrown here and there, and the odd few punches exchanged between the subcultures. In all honesty, most of the atmosphere, that might have been mistaken by the elderly for a battle, was the high spirits and the rush of adrenaline when being gathered in groups of similar people at the seaside. 

Although both sources gave contrasting perspectives of the same situation, I think it is difficult to determine the reliability of the two as the perspectives were mainly given from either the Mods or the elderly. These generations both differ heavily from each other, where the behaviour of the elderly's young years were completely changed by the National Service, but the freedom for the post-war generation had introduced to Britain the title teenager with contrasting morals. 

Deviance Amplification is a process commonly carried out by the mass media, where the seriousness of deviant behaviour is emphasised. The purpose is to form a greater awareness and interest in deviance which results in more deviance being uncovered, creating the impression that the initial amplification was actually a true representation.

Deviant defines behaviour that is outside of what is socially acceptable. This sort of behaviour was, in some cases, present at the South of England, and the press exaggerated this deviant behaviour. However, because of the press, at the next gathering, the police had gotten involved in the situation, causing people coming in to witness the situation. This resulted in even greater numbers of police, and because of their population, they were able to arrest more of the Mods and Rockers, which results in more reports of more arrests, inviting more people, requiring more police to come in, until the process begins spiralling. This creates impressions of young people being rebellious, and because of this, more young people begin to want to rebel and associate themselves to the Mods or Rockers like reported in the press. In the end, it is the media that causes the event to turn chaotic.