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American Tabloid Media and the Satanic Panic, 1970-2000

  • Book
  • © 2021

Overview

Authors:
  1. Sarah A. Hughes

    1. Philadelphia, USA

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  • Focuses on the accusations of satanic ritual abuse in America’s white middle-class suburban daycare centers
  • Examines the influential relationship between the satanic panic, conservative politics, and the mass media
  • Argues that the panic fuelled the expansion of both tabloid media and conservative ideology

Part of the book series: Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic (PHSWM)

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Sarah A. Hughes
    Pages 1-11

  3. A “Vast Wasteland”: American Media in the 1980s

    • Sarah A. Hughes
    Pages 13-53

  4. “The Hyperreal and the Imaginary”: The Satanic Panic as Infotainment

    • Sarah A. Hughes
    Pages 55-88

  5. A Nightmare on Elm Street: Paranormal Activity in Evangelical Suburbia

    • Sarah A. Hughes
    Pages 89-157

  6. “The Perils of Punky,” Gender, Childhood, and the Occult

    • Sarah A. Hughes
    Pages 159-213

  7. Stay Tuned: The Panic and Its Legacies

    • Sarah A. Hughes
    Pages 215-263

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 265-271
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Keywords

About this book

This book examines the “satanic panic” of the 1980s as an essential part of the growing relationship between tabloid media and American conservative politics in the 1980s. It argues that widespread fears of Satanism in a range of cultural institutions was indispensable to the development and success of both infotainment, or tabloid content on television, and the rise of the New Right, a conservative political movement that was heavily guided by a growing coalition of influential televangelists, or evangelical preachers on television. It takes as its particular focus the hundreds of accusations that devil-worshippers were operating America’s white middle-class suburban daycare centers. Dozens of communities around the country became embroiled in trials against center owners, the most publicized of which was the McMartin Preschool trial in Manhattan Beach, California. It remains the longest and most expensive criminal trial in the nation’s history.

Reviews

“The Satanic Panic is nevertheless a topic of interest to those working on new and alternative religiosity … . There is thus certainly scope for further research on SRA, and Hughes’ monograph may be useful for future scholars pursuing this topic … .” (Ethan Doyle White, Nova Religio, Vol. 26 (4), May, 2023)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Philadelphia, USA

    Sarah A. Hughes

About the author

Sarah Hughes is an independent scholar who received her PhD from Temple University, USA.



Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: American Tabloid Media and the Satanic Panic, 1970-2000

  • Authors: Sarah A. Hughes

  • Series Title: Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83636-8

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-83635-1Published: 28 October 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-83638-2Published: 29 October 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-83636-8Published: 27 October 2021

  • Series ISSN: 2731-5630

  • Series E-ISSN: 2731-5649

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XI, 271

  • Topics: History of the Americas, Modern History, Cultural History, Social History

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