Mods vs Rockers in the 1960s : Creation of a Moral Panic

One weekend in 1964 residents and holiday-makers in the seaside towns of Brighton, Bournemouth and Margate, were rocked by a sudden influx of young, cool gangs. They were Mods and Rockers, and the culture clash that occurred that weekend, described in the articles below in The Daily Sketch, Daily Mirror and others, has become iconic in the history of youth culture. 

Mods and Rockers were easily identifiable by their distinctive clothing styles: the Mods wore Fred Perry and Ben Sherman designer suits, covered by a Parka jacket; while the Rockers wore leather biker jackets and jeans. Mods also rode European scooters like Lambrettas and Vespas and listened to a mix of Motown, ska and bands such as The Who. 

The Rockers favoured motorbikes and listened to American rock and roll such as Eddie Cochrane and Elvis. Although the movements were short-lived, violent clashes between the two gangs were seized on by the media and used by moralists to exemplify the outrageous liberties enjoyed by Britain’s youths. 

The seafront vandalism and violence described in the newspaper article was later made into the 1979 film Quadrophenia.

The video below shows how the media in the 1960s reported the clashes between mods and rockers and considers whether or not the media coverage exaggerated the scale of events leading to a 'moral panic' in relation to the behaviour of these youth subcultures.

This is evidence of historical creation of collective identity for British youth cultures. 

In what ways do the media texts referenced above create a representation of young people as being a danger to society?

In my opinion, the media texts above create a very negative representation of young people in the 1960's. The newspapers used very derogatory language, when describing the events happening in places like Clacton and Brighton. The language chosen in the newspapers connoted a war-like environment, and suggested the Mods and Rockers were like wild animals.

An example of this is the headline of the Daily Sketch on May 19th, 1964. The headline was 'Beach Crowds take cover from battling Mods and Rockers: Wildest Ones Yet'.  The word 'Wildest' suggests that the mods and rockers were like animals and were out of control, which portrays them in a very negative way. The words 'take cover' and 'battling' also add to the negative representation of young people, as it connotes the fighting was as serious as a war. In my opinion, the headline is trying to refer to World War 2, as most of the fighting in the war was on beaches.

Another newspaper published a derogatory article on the events, saying 'The Wild Ones of Whitsun went even wilder yesterday'.  Again, the newspaper referred to the fighters as 'Wild Ones', connoting vicious animalistic behaviour. The paper then goes on to say 'At Brighton, police arrested 75 rampaging teenagers'.  The word rampaging adds to the vicious, violent representation of young people, suggesting that they are destroying the area.

Because the war ended only 19 year before these events, the older generations would still remember what the war was like and make connections to the fighting between mods and rockers, due to the negative headlines. The headlines promote a stereotype of a dangerous, troublesome youth. Because of this mediation, in addition with the lack of television and internet, older generations would start to stereotype the younger generations as violent and troublesome, without actually experiencing the events for themselves.