Professor Stanley Cohen was one of the most influential British Jewish sociologists and criminologists of the 20th century. He served as the Martin White Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics (LSE) and was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1998 for his groundbreaking research on human rights and political crime.
He was a prolific writer. In his seminal work Folk Devils and Moral Panics, Cohen explored how media and societal elites manufacture “moral panics” by labeling marginal groups as “folk devils,” a framework essential for understanding the demonization of minorities and activists. His book States of Denial is a monumental study on the psychological and sociological mechanisms by which individuals and governments ignore or justify atrocities. It is considered a foundational text for international human rights advocacy. He shifted the focus of criminology from street crime to state-sponsored violence and systematic oppression, demanding that sociology confront the reality of political torture and mass injustice.
While teaching at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Cohen used the Israeli-Palestinian context as a primary case study for his theories on denial. He analyzed how a state can maintain a democratic self-image while systematically violating human rights through legalistic and discursive rationalizations. A steadfast supporter of organizations like B’Tselem, he utilized his intellectual standing to expose the corrosive effects of occupation on both the oppressed and the oppressors.