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Do you think there are any parallels between the social hysteria depicted in The Crucible and American society today? What about in the rest of the world?

Hmm one thing that comes to mind right away is the satanism fears which gripped America in the 1980s. The McMartin Pre-School case is probably the best example I can think of.

More recently, you could say the rush to invade Iraq had elements of social hysteria. After an event like 9/11, fear took hold and Saddam Hussein was inflated to a sort of witch-like mythical figure who was weeks away from launching attacks on America. The lack of questioning of the war could be seen as a sort of social hysteria.

In terms of the rest of the world, I think in remote parts of the world the hunt for witches still exists.

According to this article, witch hunts in rural India still go on. 

Another example might be the persistent rumor in some parts of Africa that sex with a baby can cure AIDS. There are a lot of myths and hysteria around diseses in general and especially AIDS. 

In the not-so-distant past, anyone who was protested the Vietnam War and more recently, the war in Iraq, was called dirty names and patriotism severely questioned.  Invasions of privacy (like the Patriot Act) were sanctioned and implemented by government officials in order to keep the populace allegedly "safe."  The same sort of thing was happening in Salem, and in the McCarthy Era, and will probably happen again.  Witch Hunts exist because of the desire for protection from unknown fears.  The latest "witch hunt" will unfortunately not be the last, if history is any indicator. 

Witch hunts are very much alive today. I can remember the AIDS scare, and the rumors that persisted and ruined lives. If an actor or sports athlete was seen leaving any kind of medical facility, the press was on it-looking for some indication that they were infected. We robbed children of education because we did not want them in the same room with our kids.

Time and again-9/11 being another example, the phenomenon of wide spread hysteria takes over society.

Also look at the fact that in times of turmoil in a community, basic rights are often take away.  Imagine how fearful the community had to be of being accused.  Many started making accusations themselves to make sure they were on the other end of things.  Look at the Patriot Act and the rights of privacy, etc (flown lately?) people have given up because of fear.  Miller obviously was trying to draw a connection to the Red Scare.  Another good example would be the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

In looking at "the rest of the world" - where does jihad (holy war) come from if not a place of hysteria.  The terrorists that are so deadly today, the suicide bombers, are extremists who have been so convinced of the dangers of other societies that they are willing to die to protect their own people.  These people firmly believe that they must do this for the greater good - in other words, that danger is imminent.  Hysteria, the lack of reasoned thinking, causes that.

The 'satanic panic' of the 1980s was responsible for spreading the lie of a supposedly pervasive phenomenon known as 'satanic ritual abuse' (SRA) in which children were used in satanic rituals and molested, abused, raped, impregnated and even murdered in the name of the devil. Rumors and accusation of organized groups ran rampant for many years, and were featured on shows like Oprah and Geraldo, but federal investigators never found any evidence that such groups existed or that such crimes had ever occurred.