Moral panic is a feeling that occurs in society when something or someone is viewed as a threat to the values of society or someone’s interests. We presented two most commonly used models of moral panics – procedural and attribution models. Often literature is viewed as a threat, especially children’s or youth’s literature. In the USA, the American Library Association keeps a record of challenged books – books that someone wants to restrict access to or deny access to them. We focused on Slovenia and school reading – reading that is done in or for the school under the supervision of a mentor or a teacher. We introduced the events that happened related to school reading and triggered the public’s reaction. We applied both moral panic models and tried to define whether that was moral panic or not. The focus was mostly on the competition for the Slovenian language in the school year 2011/2012 when students had to read books Oči and Na zeleno vejo. We analyzed descriptions in the media and the reactions from students, parents, teachers, and other experts on the subject. From everything that was gathered, we can conclude that we could talk about moral panic happening at that time which did – as it is part of its feature – quickly died down and disappeared.
|
