Peer Review

Sociology of Leisure: Moral panics RLO

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Reviewed:: Oct 10, 2018 by Sociology

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Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

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Overview:: This RLO is part of "Sociology of Leisure" course. The module discusses some major features of current leisure patterns, but these activities are also central to modern life itself and thus have interests for sociologists. The RLO summarises different approaches to this concept, which offered a way to understand how ‘social opinion’ is mobilised in the media to generate moral campaigns. The concept is associated with some central sociological work on ‘societal reaction’ approaches to understanding deviancy, and with some pioneering work to develop Marxist understandings of the role of the media. In Leisure Studies, the concept has been applied to understand reactions to some spectacular youth cultures, ranging from mods and rockers in the 1960s to rave in the 1990s, and, as the previous work implies, to various health and fitness campaigns as well. As before, students will be expected to work through the whole RLO and then specialise in one of the approaches or debates by following up reading and links. This resource has been created within the Open Educational Resources project "Evaluating the Practice of Opening up Resources for Learning and Teaching in the Social Sciences" [C-SAP OER], undertaken by the Subject Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics based at University of Birmingham, for further information see here: http://www.c-sap.bham.ac.uk/subject_areas/elearning/oer/default.htm. The project is part of UK-wide Open Educational Resources programme [UKOER]. Within the programme, JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) and the Higher Education Academy are collaborating with the aim of enabling higher education institutions, consortia and individuals to share learning materials freely online. The programme supports universities and colleges in exploring processes and policies, intellectual property rights, cultural issues, technical requirements and data management issues.
Type of Material:: Learning Object Repository.
Recommended Uses:: This is a self-paced module that could be assigned as homework. There are links to reading guides developed by the author to allow students to study ideas more in depth.
Technical Requirements:: Adobe Flash Driver.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: This module outlines alternative formulations (interactionist, marxist, media, post-structuralist) of the idea of a moral panic and discusses the implications of each.
Target Student Population:: College General Ed -- Social science students who might encounter the term 'moral panic' in discussion of social interactionism, media, popular culture, health or sport.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: None.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The material is essentially a linked set of reading lists accompanied by brief explanations of relevant information.
Concerns:: The material is a bit dated, and it approaches moral panic through a very limited number of viewpoints, all of which revolve around Marxist explanations of social phenomena.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: As part of a larger discussion of the topic, this resource could help students assemble information on the topic of moral panic, as well as point them toward more resources on the subject. This module can increase conceptual understanding of moral panics from the interactionist, marxist, media, and post-structuralist framework.
Concerns:: The learning objectives were vague -- outline some alternative formulations of the idea of a moral panic. The questions to ponder in the summary are yes/no questions without a critical thinking component. Some of the questions are dated (2009, swine flu). The material needs to be included with other, non-interactionist perspecitves.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: The site was easy to navigate. Very similar to a powerpoint presentation with clicking through the pages and links to reading guides. The Merlot link goes directly to the learning material.
Concerns:: It is difficult to navigate to the original site to find other learning resources. When I navigated to the main site, it was difficult to find relevant resources. Some of links are not to the described resource.

Other Issues and Comments:: This material offers a good introduction. It does not add more than an intro text book; unless the reading guides are used. The module could use more work -- development of more specific learning objectives, development of critical thinking questions. It could be improved by an expansion of perspective and newer resources.
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