Black Males as “Folk Devils”: Examining Moral Panics in K-12 Education

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  In Roundtable Session: Toward an Abolitionist Leadership Theory: Concepts and Cases of Anti-Racist Educational Leadership

Abstract

This paper investigates how Black males in K–12 schools are persistently positioned as “folk devils” through the mechanism of moral panics. It aims to analyze how this framing drives disproportionate school discipline, fuels deficit narratives, and sustains educational inequities. The chapter further explores what school leaders can do to disrupt these discourses and cultivate spaces where Black males flourish. The paper is grounded in Stanley Cohen’s theory of moral panics and folk devils (1972), integrating this with critical race theory and Black masculinity studies. Cohen’s work provides the foundation for analyzing how hegemonic discourse shapes societal fear and policy responses. At the same time, scholars such as Brown (2018), Johnson (2017), and Marsh and Noguera (2018) offer insights into the racialization and gendering of these discourses within educational contexts. Adopting a conceptual and theoretical approach, the inquiry employs critical discourse analysis to interrogate historical and contemporary narratives surrounding Black male students in public education. The analysis includes both sociological and educational literature on stereotype reproduction, policy development, and school leadership practices. The paper argues that Black males are constructed as permanent threats in the public imagination through hegemonic discourses that circulate in both media and schools. These constructions justify and perpetuate disproportionate disciplinary practices and exclusionary policies. It concludes that unless these dominant narratives are dismantled through intentional leadership practices and anti-racist educational reform, schools will continue to fail Black male students.

Author

• Cleo Wadley, Harris County Department of Education