Moral panic in the life of society as a phenomenon of non-traditional religiosity

In the present article, the author analyzes contemporary theories of moral panic and their use in describing various phenomena of non-traditional religiosity. On the basis of the works of Cohen, Goode, Ben-Yehuda, Critcher, Jenkins and other researchers, the state of current scholarship on moral panic is evaluated. An atempt is made to apply these theories to non-traditional religiosity with the help of the works of Victor, Jenkins, Richardson and others. Special treatment is given to factors that hamper the development of moral panic in sects. Tese include the peculiarity of sectarianism’s identity in society, the level of social sensitivity to the topic of sects, the way non-traditional religiosity is portrayed in the mass media, the absence of an interest in developing moral panic among professional scholars of sects, and other factors. Te author evaluates the extent to which the theory of moral panic can be applied to the phenomenon of non-traditional religiosity and stresses the importance of a scholarly approach to this topic