According to Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda, authors of Moral Panics: Culture, Politics, and Social Construction, most moral panics can be described with several distinct characteristics. There features include:
Concern -- There must be widespread belief that the behavior of the category or group called into question is very likely to have negative effects on society. This mentality is common when studying immigration as a moral panic, as many citizens believe that immigrants can lead to an increase in crime or lower employment opportunities for other citizens.
Hostility -- Hostility towards the category or group called into question increases dramatically, and commonly become "folk devils" onto which the concerns of the community are focused. A clear division forms between "them" and "us." Immigrants often suffer from this attitude, as native American-born citizens perceive themselves as the "in" group and unknown foreigners as the "out" group.
Concern -- There must be widespread belief that the behavior of the category or group called into question is very likely to have negative effects on society. This mentality is common when studying immigration as a moral panic, as many citizens believe that immigrants can lead to an increase in crime or lower employment opportunities for other citizens.
Hostility -- Hostility towards the category or group called into question increases dramatically, and commonly become "folk devils" onto which the concerns of the community are focused. A clear division forms between "them" and "us." Immigrants often suffer from this attitude, as native American-born citizens perceive themselves as the "in" group and unknown foreigners as the "out" group.
Consensus -- There must be widespread consensus among a population that the category or group called into question poses a real threat to society. At this point, it's vital that the "moral entrepreneurs"--or the individuals who take responsibility for perpetuating the panic and social division--are vocal, while the "folk devils" appear weak. Because immigrants often have trouble adjusting to America culture and society, they usually have difficulty organizing and fighting for their rights.
Disproportionality -- The action pushed to be taken against the category or group is disproportionate to the realistic threat the accused group poses to society. In immigration, this is a common issue--many scholars have statistically debunked the claims made by anti-immigration advocates, although the mentality continues to pervade society.
Volatility -- Moral panics are highly volatile by nature. Therefore, they tend to disappear as quickly as they appeared, usually because of a wane in public interest or changing news reports. This applies to immigration as a moral panic, which affects society in waves depending on the larger historical context. For example, currently anti-immigrant moral panic is widespread due to Islamic terrorist attacks in Western countries such as the Paris shootings in November, 2015.