the myth of "moral panic": an alternative account of LSD prohibition
Benjamin Cornwell, Annulla Linders
Deviant Behavior July 1, 2002 DOI: 10.1080/01639620290086404 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | LSD |
| Keywords | Moral panic Deviance statistics Action physics Collective action Criminology Epistemology Law |
| Citations | 67 |
| Key points | Proposes that deviance construction involves active social interpretation through affiliation, not reactive moral panic, using LSD prohibition as an example. |
Abstract
In this paper, the authors call into question the idea of moral panic and delineate the rudiments of an alternate model of deviance construction and moral public discourse, using LSD prohibition as a working example. In developing their model, the authors draw on research on people in disasters and collective behavior. In keeping with these traditions, they argue that, when faced with emergent social threats, members of society seek to clarify ambiguous and often conflicting information about such threats through affiliation. The process through which ambiguous social information gets interpreted closely resembles the ways in which social movements arrive at interpretive frames that ready participants for action. Thus, whether or not a social object becomes deviantized depends on a complex process of social construction involving active, not merely reactive, efforts by social actors (contrary to traditional images of "panic"). Members of the mass media, as a special category of social actors, are seen as playing key roles in selecting and disseminating information about emerging social problems, thus fueling the interpretive ambiguities and conflicts surrounding potential moral threats.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on LSD, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Experimental Use of Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy | 1970 | Historical analysis | |
| LSD: My Problem Child | 1981 | Historical analysis | |
| On the Use and Abuse of LSD | 1968 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Use of Music in Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy | 1972 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Flashbacks: Recurrent Intrusive Images After the Use of LSD | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 7
- moral panics and disproportionality: the case of LSD use in the sixties Deviant Behavior July 1, 2008
- Ketamine-Enhanced Psychotherapy: Preliminary Clinical Observations on its Effects in Treating Death Anxiety International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 2007
- Ketamine Enhanced Psychotherapy: Preliminary Clinical Observations on Its Effectiveness in Treating Alcoholism. The Humanistic Psychologist 2006
- The Renewal of Psychedelic Research: Implications for Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology. The Humanistic Psychologist 2006
- American Trip The MIT Press eBooks July 14, 2020
and 2 more in the library
Cites 6
- LSD before Leary: Sidney Cohen's Critique of 1950s Psychedelic Drug Research Isis March 1, 1997
- Complications Associated with Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD-25) JAMA July 14, 1962
- Social Movements: An Interactionist Analysis Sociological Quarterly June 1, 1972
- LSD: A missed opportunity? Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental September 1, 1994
- Psychotherapy with the aid of LSD Nordic Journal of Psychiatry 1996
and 1 more in the library