Market Testing and Market Policing
Illuminating the Fluid micro-Sociology of the Illegal Drug Supply Enterprise in Liquid Modernity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2153143 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert Mclean (0000-0002-9764-3234, Interdisciplinary Research Unit on Crime, Policing and Social Justice, School of Education, University West of Scotland, Ayr, UK, corresponding author), C Holligan (0000-0001-7995-797X, University of the West of Scotland), John Mcphee (0000-0003-0490-3226, University of the West of Scotland), Iain Mcphee (University of the West of Scotland) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 485-497 |
| Publication date | 2019-05-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Deviant Behavior (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0163-9625 • E-ISSN: 1521-0456 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01639625.2018.1431041 |
| OpenAlex | W2786597666 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 22 |
Understanding Scotland’s illegal drug market continues to challenge social scientists. Most evidently neglected are processes related to social supply, from supplier perspectives. When analyzing illegal drug markets, demand-based approaches, customarily sourcing drug users, grossly overlook supplier perspectives. Thus, a qualitative research inquiry interviewing former drug dealers facilitated exploration of a supply-based approach that detailed processes of supply in relation to market level. Situating the findings within the disruptive lens of Chatwin and Potters’ (2014) concept of extending drug use normalization to embrace a dimension of market fluidity to drug supply dealing in Scotland, the researchers interviewed 35 former drug suppliers, learning about drug distribution behavioral patterns. Retail-level dealerships and higher market echelons exemplified an embodiment of the complexity of this social world. Any model aimed at characterizing Scotland’s illegal drugs market must acknowledge and incorporate aspects of social supply (e.g., recreational drugs) and recognize the fluid nature of “normalization,” taking account into its tacit embeddedness in a “local economy” with its own history and distinctive cultural geography. Unless the nuances of these various social formations are acknowledged, the potential of national policing strategies to address the crimes connected with drugs will go unrealized due to their conceptual and pragmatic inadequacies. It is ironic that a commitment to a generalized drug market conception of official enforcement is likely to sow the seeds for an unnecessary criminalization of minor serendipitous offenders and encourage reoffending patterns
Business · Criminalization · Criminology · Economics · Embeddedness · Modernity · Normalization (sociology · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Supply and demand · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Law · Marketing
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Risky business
Drug use and drug market intersections
Drug markets and distribution systems
Italian Organised Crime
The organisation of London's street gangs
Young People, Illicit Drug Use and the Question of Normalization
The New `Peculiar Institution
Racialized Identitites and the Formation of Black Gangs in Los Angeles
Blurred Boundaries
The Hoods
The Scottish Chicago
Taking Care of Business—The Heroin User's Life on the Street
Bringing Secrecy into the Open
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2024 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |