Neo-prohibitionism

Neo-prohibitionism (also spelled neoprohibitionism and neo-Prohibitionism) is the belief that the influence of alcohol in society should be reduced through legislation and policies which further restrict the sale and possession of alcohol in order to reduce average per capita consumption and change social norms to reduce its acceptability.

Contents

Use of the term

Because prohibition of alcohol in the United States and elsewhere generally has been viewed as a widely unsuccessful and unpopular policy, there are no major organizations today which overtly claim to be "neo-prohibitionist," although individuals occasionally do.

The term is usually used critically to describe groups or individuals, rather than by the groups or individuals themselves. For example, Candy Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), eventually left the organization in anger and has since gone on to criticize it as neo-prohibitionist, stating that MADD "has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned … I didn't start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving".[1] Lightner was criticizing MADD's leaders who had called for the criminalization of all driving after drinking any amount of alcoholic beverage. The epithet has also been applied to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation by its critics due to their stance on several alcohol-related issues[2][3]

Studies

The concept of neo-prohibitionism has been used and studied by scholars at George Mason University,[4] Auburn University,[5] Ohio State University,[6] Brown University,[7][8] Indiana University,[9] the University of Houston,[10] the University of Western Ontario,[11] the University of California, San Diego,[12][13] Washington University in St. Louis,[14] the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,[15] and Kean University.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Bresnahan, S. (2002). "MADD struggles to remain relevant." Washington Times, August 6.
  2. ^ http://www.abionline.org/newsDetail.cfm?nid=81&CFID=22484403&CFTOKEN=15449402 American Beverage Institute
  3. ^ http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/2111 The Center for Consumer Freedom
  4. ^ George Mason University Institute for Humane Studies iLiberty project
  5. ^ Mark Thornton, The Economics of Prohibition, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1991
  6. ^ Pamela E. Pennock and K. Austin Kerr, "In the Shadow of Prohibition: American Domestic Alcohol Policy Since 1933," Business History, Vol. 47, pp. 383-400 (2005)
  7. ^ Dwight Heath, Drinking Occasions: Comparative Perspectives on Alcoholl and Culture, Philadelphia: Brunner/Mazel (2000)
  8. ^ Dwight Heath, "The new temperance movement: Through the looking glass," Drugs and Society, Vol. 3, pp. 143-168 (1989)
  9. ^ Ruth C. Engs, Clean Living Movements: American Cycles of Heallth Reform (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2001)
  10. ^ a b Mark E. Lender and James K. Martin, Drinking in America: A History, New York: Free Press and London: Collier Macmillan, 1987
  11. ^ Jack S. Blocker, Alcohol, Reform and Society, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1979
  12. ^ Joseph R. Gusfield, "Alcohol Problems: An Interactionist View," in: Jean-Pierre von Wartburg, Pierre Magnenat, Richard Muller, and Sonja Wyss (eds.), Currents in Alcohol Research and the Prevention of Alcohol Problems - Proceedings of an International Symposium Held in Lausanne, Switzerland, November 7–9, 1983, Berne, Switzerland: Hans Huber Publishers, 1985., pp. 71-81
  13. ^ Joseph R. Gusfield, Contested Meanings: The Construction of Alcohol Problems, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996
  14. ^ David J. Pittman, "The New Temperance Movement," pp. 775-790 in David J. Pittman and Helene Raskin White, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies, 1992
  15. ^ Dan E. Beauchamp, "Alcohol-Abuse Prevention Through Beverage and Environmental Regulation: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going," in: Advances in Substance Abuse: Behavioral and Biological Research Supplement 1, Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press (Harold D. Holder ed.), 1987, pp. 53-63