folk devil
- noun
- Jargon
:
demonio popular
- The press made him out to be a folk devil responsible for the town's troubles.
Examples
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Moral panics often result in the creation of a folk devil to focus public anger.
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During times of crisis, certain groups can be labeled as folk devils, unfairly blamed for societal issues.
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Social media can quickly turn someone into a folk devil in the eyes of the public.
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The media often portrays certain celebrities as folk devils.
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In the 1980s, video games were labeled as folk devils by many parents.
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The media often portrays immigrants as folk devils, fueling public fear and misunderstanding.
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In the documentary, the controversial politician was depicted as a folk devil, accused of causing many of the nation's problems.
Antonyms
How Blamed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'folk' (people) and 'devil' (an evil or wicked figure) readily yield the idea of people who are viewed as evil, so a B1 learner knowing the words would likely infer that it refers to persons or groups seen as bad. However, the specialised sociological sense—being a scapegoated target in moral panic or portrayed as a threat to societal values—is a pragmatic/cultural nuance not fully predictable from the parts, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Folk devil comes from the simple image of ordinary people (folk) and an evil figure (devil) joined together: a town or the media picks someone and treats them like a 'devil' to blame for trouble. That's why folk devil means 'a person or group the public sees as a threat and wrongly blames for social problems'.