mod is a British youth subculture of the early to mid-1960s and was briefly revived in later decades. Focused on music and fashion, the subculture has its roots in a small group of London-based stylish young men in the late 1950s who were termed modernists because they listened to modern jazz.
Significant elements of the
mod subculture include fashion (often tailor-made suits); music (including soul, ska, and R&B); and motor scooters (usually Lambretta or Vespa). The original
mod scene was associated with amphetamine-fuelled all-night dancing at clubs.
Mods engaged in brawls with rockers in the 1960s, which led to many news articles. The mods and rockers conflict led sociologist Stanley Cohen to coin the term "moral panic" in his study Folk Devils and Moral Panics, which examined media coverage of the mod and rocker riots in the 1960s.