Social control and moral panics in pandemic times: a conclusion

This chapter summarizes the ideas that emerged from the edited book Moral Panics and Social Control in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

While stressing the concept of social control and its relations with the concept of moral panic, this chapter takes into consideration gaps in literature and research concerning social control and moral panic, how they are addressed by the contributions collected by the book and which are the new paths for research.

Among the most important paths, this chapter show how a better analysis of the role of digitalization in relation with social control and moral panic would improve the understanding of these social phenomena both in western and non-Western societies.

The COVID-19 pandemic thus constitutes a particular social situation in which empirical research has allowed the advancement of the social control and moral panic concepts.