流動中的道德恐慌：脫歐後反移民論述的媒體、情感與波動性

2026-03-10 - 2026-03-31

Prof. Rafał Smoczyński

Room 106, HC Building 2, Guangfu Campus, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU)

Date and Time: Tuesday, March 10, 2026, from 10:10 to 12:00, Taipei Time (GMT+8)

Venue: Room 106, HC Building 2, Guangfu Campus, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU)

Format: In-person

Forum Language: English

Online Link: https://meet.google.com/cph-vxvf-uva

Abstract

This lecture introduces the sociological concept of moral panic—a form of collective anxiety in which social groups are portrayed as threats to moral order—and explores how such panics emerge, intensify, and eventually decline. Drawing on classical work by Stanley Cohen and later developments in moral panic studies, the presentation explains how media, political actors, and emotional narratives combine to construct “folk devils” and mobilize public outrage.

Using the case of anti-Polish migrant sentiment in Britain surrounding the Brexit referendum, the lecture demonstrates that moral panics are not sustained simply by economic conditions or everyday prejudice, but by institutional and affective coordination. Based on qualitative interviews with Polish migrants and an analysis of political and media discourse, the talk shows how anti-migrant hostility lost its collective force after 2016—not because underlying labour market insecurities disappeared, but because mainstream media and political elites withdrew from emotionally amplifying migrant-blaming narratives.

The presentation also highlights how the decline of moral panic does not lead to social harmony, but rather to subtler, class-based and paternalistic forms of differentiation embedded in everyday life. By combining classical moral panic theory with neo-Durkheimian approaches to collective emotion and contemporary theories of political affect, the lecture offers a framework for understanding moral panics as volatile, emotionally charged social processes rather than fixed or inevitable reactions to social change.

Speakers

️Prof. Rafał Smoczyński 

Associate Professor, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Visiting Associate Professor, International Center for Cultural Studies, Taiwan

 

Moderator

Joyce C.H. Liu
Professor/Director, International Institute for Cultural Studies, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

 

Discussant

Lungani Hlongwa 

Research Fellow, International Center for Cultural Studies, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan.

Dolma Tsering 

Research Fellow, International Center for Cultural Studies, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan.

 

Organizer

國立陽明交通大學文化研究國際中心 International Center for Cultural Studies (ICCS), National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University

• Subproject II: The Chip Era and Digital Governance (Convener: Joyce C.H. Liu)
• ICSSR-NSTC Project (2025-2027): China’s Digital Silk Road and Chip-Based Geopolitics: A Critical Analytical Study from the Indo-Taiwan Perspective

 

Funding Source

教育部高等教育深耕計畫

Higher Education Sprout Project, Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan

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