The sections, which were identified by Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda in 1994, include concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionality, and volatility.
[2][page needed] This model states that social panic commonly occurs first through the people in society, at a "grassroots" level.
After the Three Mile Island accident, where there was a nuclear meltdown, people evacuated their homes even though no workers or residents living in that area were injured or killed.
[3] This posits that social panics are exaggerated or invented problems created by elites or people who are considered higher among others in society.
These type of people produce fear among the other classes over an issue that is not considered dangerous to the society.
The people who are considered elite could be someone who runs a company or is very rich, as they may have connections with the media and are familiar with politicians that can make proposals in their favor.
An example that illustrates this theory can be seen in the Russians, specifically the Czars, who turned the focus away from the anger of poverty by spreading a Jewish conspiracy.
[4] This model suggests that panics are created by people in interest groups who direct the public's focus on actions that are intended to be morally negative and be a danger to society.
An example that demonstrates this theory is when politicians in the United States, seeking reelection, used the issue of drug abuse to cause social panic.
For example, the word "disturbance" can be used to mean having a noise complaint due to loud music next door and a group of people acting violently by throwing rocks and setting vehicles on fire.
This can make people overreact in response to relatively minor problems and may lead them to believe that disturbances, acts of terrorism, riots, and instances have the same meaning.
[2][page needed] Furthermore, the headlines used by the media might cause society to act irrationally to a story about minor issues.
[citation needed] However, there are certain situations where making predictions is necessary for security, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.
According to Robert Wuthnow in his book Be Very Afraid, people have responded aggressively, spending large amounts of money in fighting terrorism.
Individuals were constantly reminded of the concern and fear they should be experiencing by the tremendous amount of media coverage and books being published after the September 11 attacks.
Angela McRobbie and Sarah Thornton claim that Stanley Cohen's work on moral panic is outdated and argue that more modern information is required.
[7] Yvonne Jewkes describes the term as vague and the failure to clarify the position of the public "as media audiences or a body of opinion".