Cycles of deviance

Structural change, moral boundaries, and drug use, 1880-1990

Bibliographic Data

ID2155294
AuthorsJames Hawdon (0000-0002-0273-2227, Clemson University, corresponding author), James E Hawdon
Year1996
Volume16
Issue2
Pages183-207
Publication date1996-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Spectrum (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0273-2173 • E-ISSN: 1521-0707
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02732173.1996.9982128
OpenAlexW2091179164
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited51

This article offers a general explanation for changes in rates of deviant behavior. The rate of drug use in the United States between 1880 and 1990 is used as support for the general argument. Rates of use and social attitudes toward users are understood as functions of social mobility. Evidence is offered that supports the explanation that changing moral definitions and rates of behavior depend on demographic and economic changes in American society. The two American drug epidemics witnessed since 1880 occurred when structural change expanded pluralism. Contrary to common knowledge, moral panics were waged not during these epidemics but after they began to subside. Indeed, the rates of deviance as a socially constructed definition vary inversely with the objective number of persons engaging in the particular behavior

Criminology · Economics · Epistemology · Moral panic · Positive economics · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology

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