Stanley Cohen

"We define ourselves by what we reject."

"Institutions manufacture consent through the creation of folk devils."

"The outsider serves a purpose in the insider's world."

"Fear requires an enemy; society provides the script."

"Deviance is a social product, not a natural category."

"The more we fear, the more we control."

"Understanding is the first step toward justice."

"Society's anxiety reveals itself in who it punishes."

"The boundaries between normal and deviant are human inventions."

"We are all deviants in someone's system."

"Moral crusades mask deeper social anxieties."

"The accused carry the weight of society's fears."

"Normalcy is maintained through the ritual of punishment."

"Understanding deviance is understanding ourselves."

"Rules protect power more than people."

"The folk devil is society's mirror held backwards."

"We criminalize what makes us uncomfortable about ourselves."

"Compassion begins with questioning our labels."

"Society needs enemies to know what it is."

"The reaction tells us more than the act."

"Institutions define deviance to justify their existence."

"Fear of difference is fear of ourselves."

"Moral panics are society's way of avoiding self-examination."

"The outsider reveals the truth about the insider."