RT Article
T1 A copycat crime meme: ghost riding the whip
JF Crime, media, culture
VO 16
IS 2
SP 239
OP 264
A1 Surette, Ray
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1858782783
AB A 2006 US copycat crime wave came into being, surged with thousands of crimes committed, and dissipated without substantial news media attention. The development of this early copycat crime meme is traceable to the nature of the crime, “ghost riding the whip,” and the social media and popular music communication channels associated with it. Ghost riding the whip involved traffic violations where drivers exit their cars and dance atop or alongside the moving driverless vehicles. Social media allowed the widespread diffusion of detailed instructions that spread this crime from a single minority community to the middle class within a 3-month period. The study of this copycat crime meme examined four types of data: Google Trends, rap songs, ProQuest news media data, and YouTube videos. The examination of the crime wave suggests how Gabriel Tarde’s 19th-century ideas operate in the contemporary social media era. However, unlike pre-social media-based crime waves that were launched via interpersonal and legacy media communication pathways, for ghost riding, rap songs, YouTube postings, and Google searches spurred its growth. Legacy media were found to be most important during the crime wave’s decline, but not during its diffusion. For this copycat crime meme, social media’s influence flowed in a unique upward and outward pattern and the results raise the research questions as to how social media have changed the dynamics of crime waves and how important legacy media will be in future crime waves.
NO Literaturverzeichnis
K1 Google
K1 Mem
K1 Social Media
K1 Youtube
K1 Copycat crime
K1 crime diffusion
K1 crime waves
K1 ghost riding
K1 Memes
DO 10.1177/1741659019865305