Drug Sellers’ Neutralizations of Guiltless Drug Sales and Avoidance of “Drug Dealer” Identities

Background: Despite a wealth of empirical exploration on neutralization theory, several aspects of the theory remain underexplored. For instance, one task of neutralization research is to investigate whether and how neutralizations vary with offender characteristics. A second underexplored area is whether the neutralizations offenders present when directly asked about feelings of guilt are similar or dissimilar to those they have incorporated into their narrative identities described during interviews. A third underexplored issue is whether offenders that exhibit little guilt for committing mala prohibita crimes use neutralizations in a similar manner as those who do not express guilt for committing mala in se crimes. Methods: The present study examines these questions by drawing from data collected from interviews with 33 active drug sellers from St. Louis, Missouri, USA and 30 active drug sellers from Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Results: We find that these offenders’ neutralizations vary by drug type and by differential access to resources. We also find that, in addition to the neutralizations they give when asked about guilt, these offenders also preemptively neutralize feelings of guilt by constructing identities counter to bad “drug dealers” throughout their storied identities. Conclusion: We conclude by suggesting that neutralizations vary by offender characteristics due to the differing background expectancies of offenders’ social groups. We also suggest that neutralizing the repercussions of immoral actions is not always a static, monothematic technique. It is instead an active, complex, and interactional process that occurs as persons make sense of who they are and what they are doing. Finally, we argue that studies of neutralization theory relying on direct, standardized questions or the presentation of abstract vignettes may fail to capture a sizable part of the neutralization process among offenders

A Proposed Framework For Measuring The Effectiveness Of Social Media: A Study Of Irish Tourism

Over the past five years, visitations of American holidaymakers to Ireland have grown exponentially owing to the online strategies of Tourism Ireland, a Destination Marketer (DMO) with a meagre budget which is extended by their understanding of best practices to maximise their monetary allowance. This suggested framework incorporates a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as financial, marketing and operational that offer a scale of measurement from which the Irish DMO can monitor the success of each promotional campaign when targeting the US and Canada. These are presented not as final solutions but rather as suggestions based on empirical evidence obtained from both primary and secondary sources. This research combines the wisdom extracted through qualitative methodologies with the objective of understanding the processes that drive both emergent and agile strategies. The study extends the work relative to performance and examines the role of social media in the context of promoting Ireland to North America. There are two main themes that are identified and analysed in this investigation, these are the approach of the DMO when advocating Ireland as a brand and the benefits of digital platforms set against a proposed scale of KPIs, such as destination marketing, brand positioning and identity development. The key narrative of this analysis is to focus on the power of social media when capitalising upon marketing opportunities, operating on a relatively small budget. This will always be a relevant theme of discussion due to the responsibility of an organisation like Tourism Ireland operating under the restraints imposed by government funding. The overall conclusions of this research may help inform those concerned with the implementing of social media strategies develop clearer models of measurement when promoting a destination to North America. The suggestions of this study will benefit small and medium enterprises particularly

Boundary Spanner Corruption in Business Relationships

Boundary spanner corruption—voluntary collaborative behaviour between individuals representing different organisations that violates their organisations’ norms—is a serious problem in business relationships. Drawing on insights from the literatures on general corruption perspectives, the dark side of business relationships and deviance in sales and service organisations, this dissertation identifies boundary spanner corruption as a potential dark side complication inherent in close business relationships It builds research questions from these literature streams and proposes a research structure based upon commonly used methods in corruption research to address this new concept. In the first study, using an exploratory survey of boundary spanner practitioners, the dissertation finds that the nature of boundary spanner corruption is broad and encompasses severe and non-severe types. The survey also finds that these deviance types are prevalent in a widespread of geographies and industries. This prevalence is particularly noticeable for less-severe corruption types, which may be an under-researched phenomenon in general corruption research. The consequences of boundary spanner corruption can be serious for both individuals and organisations. Indeed, even less-severe types can generate long-term negative consequences. A second interview-based study found that multi-level trust factors could also motivate the emergence of boundary spanner corruption. This was integrated into a theoretical model that illustrates how trust at the interpersonal, intraorganisational, and interorganisational levels enables corrupt behaviours by allowing deviance-inducing factors stemming from the task environment or from the individual boundary spanner to manifest in boundary spanner corruption. Interpersonal trust between representatives of different organisations, interorganisational trust between these organisations, and intraorganisational agency trust of management in their representatives foster the development of a boundary-spanning social cocoon—a mechanism that can inculcate deviant norms leading to corrupt behaviour. This conceptualisation and model of boundary spanner corruption highlights intriguing directions for future research to support practitioners engaged in a difficult problem in business relationships

Towards a normalisation of young people’s drinking practices: a Chicago school ethnographic study in the Canterbury night-time economy

This PhD thesis is an ethnographic investigation into the drinking practices of young people undertaken in the Canterbury (Kent, United Kingdom) night-time economy. This research took place across a series of fieldwork sites, including: pubs, night-clubs, the street, and young people’s houses across the city. The research included an in-depth ethnography which took place in a city-centre pub where I was working as a bartender, which adapted the methodological approach of the Chicago School of Sociology to urban studies in a contemporary context. Specific examples from the research included a case study with two young men in the pub who were drinking after work, and a wide-range of other ethnographic examples taken from scenarios arising through my position at the pub resulting from bar conversations and informal interviews. These were selected from a number of literally thousands of young people who I encountered across the two years of fieldwork in the pub. The licensee of the pub, Andrew, acted as a gatekeeper for the research, as his approach to the pub business corresponded to interaction and the possibility of building ethnographic relationships with young people. Other ethnographic data examples were also taken from the wider Canterbury night-time economy, away from the pub at the centre of the in-depth ethnography. The variety of data sets included participant observation, conversation, informal interviews and the field diary. Drawing from the accounts of participants in the fieldwork and emergent themes in the ethnography, the thesis argues that young people are the subject of a normalization of extreme drinking practices in the night-time economy. This is explored through the adaptation of the model of drug normalization theory, where young people’s experiences of alcohol and extreme drinking practices are examined in relation to specific dimensions of drinking. The media stereotyping of extreme drinking practices by young people is also subject to critique, where it will be argued that the term “binge” drinking is an imprecise and moralistic view of young people’s activities in the night-time economy

“You could try this compound, but it might send you nuts”: how steroid suppliers perceive the underground market and their ‘hybrid’ role within it

Introduction The illicit manufacture and use of image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs) have increased. The underground market continues to meet consumer demands amidst evolving cultural narratives around most alluring IPEDs. This qualitative study aimed to provide insights into how IPED suppliers perceive demands within the current market and their roles within it. Methods We interviewed four IPED suppliers in Australia regarding distribution challenges and market changes. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed, with immediate reflective notes taken after each interview. Inductive line-by-line analysis facilitated identification and development of themes. Results Cultural narratives were perceived to influence the demand for several drugs (e.g. trenbolone, dihydroboldenone, fluoxymesterone) due to their perceived desirability and elevated status compared to other compounds. Consumers, who appeared to demonstrate knowledge gaps, were sometimes guided in their consumption practices by IPED suppliers, who drifted into a “hybrid” role of coach-supplier. Discussion IPED suppliers highlighted a perceived demand for specific AAS, driven by cultural narratives. Consequently, IPED suppliers assumed a hybrid role whereby they provide advice to the people who purchase IPEDs at point-of-sale. Urgent action is needed to address cultural narratives and provide education and harm reduction to support people who use IPEDs

An exploration of evolving forms of access to performance and image enhancing drugs (PIED), and body image, on Gold Coast, Australia, with particular emphasis on how users reconcile their drift into criminality

In contemporary culture, the growing importance of body image has created a context where pharmacological and surgical enhancement of the body is accepted in numerous forms. By extension, although controlled or illegal in many countries, Performance and Image Enhancing Drug (PIED) use is also becoming increasingly prevalent among gym attendees in mainstream society. This investigation attempts to understand, and situate growing PIED use and to explore the extent to which theoretical explanations such as drift, normalisation and risk denial help explain individuals’ drift into criminality and how PIED are now permeating the realms of wider acceptance. How PIED are supplied and how this is changing is also considered. A mixed methods approach utilising online surveys (n40), and semi-structured interviews (22 Gold Coast residents) was undertaken, with current and former PIED users. The Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia was selected as a focus due to its comparatively high numbers of PIED users. Overall the data suggests that for many on the Gold Coast, the body plays a large role in the formation their identity, as it appears to for increasing numbers today. As such, the rise of a gym culture appears to be bringing PIED use on the Gold Coast further into the mainstream, and for some, it is now an accepted practice

An Exploration of how the Social Supply and User-Dealer Supply of Illicit Drugs Differs to Conventional Notions of Drug Dealing and Consideration of the Consequences of this for Sentencing Policy

The concept of ‘social supply’ has emerged as a term used both in the UK, and internationally, to describe drug distribution that is non-commercially motivated and almost exclusively found between friends and acquaintances. Social suppliers have increasingly been presented as actors who are qualitatively different to drug dealers (proper), in relation to their motivation and their activity. As a result, they have increasingly become identified as a group who should be distinguished as such legally (Police Foundation, 2000; Release, 2009). While social supply behaviours can be identified in wider research literature relating to recreational drug use, there is a relative gap in regard to in-depth accounts of social supply activity, and in regard to a social supply definition. In a similar way, heroin and crack cocaine user-dealers - a group who are also perhaps not best understood as profit motivated suppliers - have received insufficient academic attention, with the majority of research references failing to go beyond typologies that recognise them simply as suppliers who also use. With research indicating that social supply permeates a meaningful section of adolescent and adult drug markets, along with evidence to suggest that drug supply embodies one of limited options for addicted drug users to fund their habit, this thesis explores how far we can understand these behaviours as drug dealing (proper). Using qualitative in-depth interviews and case studies, this interpretivist research design develops existing ideas, as well as highlighting emergent social supply and user-dealing themes. Findings from this research indicate that social supply behaviours are usefully understood through a theoretical application of ‘normalisation’ (Parker et al., 1998) and ‘drift’ (Matza, 1964) and are wider in scope than those currently recognised by the literature base. The research findings also indicate the importance of the notion of ‘economies of scale’ - an incentive for drug users to obtain a larger quantity of substance for a cheaper price. Notions of reciprocity also feature, with group obligation providing a rationale for involvement in social supply. The findings are also suggestive of the idea that user-dealing - understood through the theoretical gaze of Bourdieu’s ‘Theory of Practice’ (1990) - is characterised by limited distribution, minimal profit and explicated as a less harmful option than other crimes undertaken to fund drug dependence. This thesis concludes with the proposal that a conceptual shift towards ‘minimally commercial supply’ offers a more realistic and inclusive means of conceptualising both social supply and user-dealing activity. Possible ways forward therefore include the implementation of this term as a distinct offence that focuses on intent, thereby presenting a more proportionate approach than current policy responses for these groups allow.Economic and Social Reasearch Council and Plymouth DAA

What’s the charge? Perceptions of blame and responsibility for credit card debt

The purpose of the research conducted for this thesis was to investigate perceptions of responsibility and blame for rising levels of consumer debt in the UK, focusing on two key stakeholder groups often associated with the issues relating to consumer debt: individual borrowers and consumer credit lenders. Research was conducted with these stakeholders; debtors represented the individual borrowers and debt collectors from a large multi national credit card company represented lenders. Three central research questions lay at the heart of the research: what are the respondents’ perceptions of why and how debtors use consumer credit; how are debtors perceived and treated by their creditors (i.e. through contact with debt collectors); what are the respondents’ perceptions of who is to blame for consumer debt? A mixed method approach was adopted, using primarily qualitative research methods in accordance with the interpretivist approach of the research. An online survey and in-depth interviews were adopted for the debtor respondents and focus groups and in-depth interviews were adopted for the debt collector respondents. The debtor respondents were recruited from the National Debt Line website, the biggest online money advice website in the UK, by posting an online survey on the site. The debt collector respondents were recruited from the shared employer of the respondents and the researcher, a large multi national credit card company. In answer to the research questions, the research revealed that, firstly, the majority of debtor respondents perceived that their consumer credit use was to supplement their low income, which contradicted previous stereotypes of debtors as reckless spendthrifts and, instead, proposed they are agentic rational decision makers. Secondly, debtors were negatively perceived and treated by their creditors (debt collectors) in that they were stigmatised and labelled as deviant. This occurred during the debtors’ social interaction with debt collectors during the debt collection process. In line with the labelling theory of deviance, this societal reaction then led to self-labelling by the debtors, who expressed feelings of shame. Thirdly, therefore, both the debtors and debt collectors primarily blamed the debtor stakeholder group as responsible for increasing levels of consumer debt, although the debtors also placed some of the blame on the creditors for acting unethically in their lending practices, namely by lending irresponsibly to debtors without an accurate assessment of the affordability of the loan. This thesis makes an original contribution to sociological knowledge of the ways in which blame and responsibility for increasing levels of debt is perceived by different societal groups. A key part of the thesis’ originality exists in its utilisation of concepts drawn from different strands of sociological theory to explore perceptions of debt, in particular the sociology of deviance and symbolic interactionism, such as labeling, stigma and shame

A pragmatic mixed methods analysis of experiences, behaviours and perceptions of gamblers towards the efficacy of responsible gambling in minimising "problem gambling" MINIMISING ‘PROBLEM GAMBLING’ PERCEPTIONS OF GAMBLERS TOWARDS THE EFFICACY OF RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING IN MINIMISING ‘PROBLEM GAMBLING’

The premise of this thesis is that all business is embedded in society and needs to be responsible for the socio-cultural problems it creates. This thesis examines the social responsibilities operators should have to gamblers and wider society and seeks to understand if responsible gambling can empower gamblers to minimise harms. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate critically the extent to which responsible gambling is possible in relation to the interests of society and gamblers themselves and an examination of the efficacy of responsible gambling features in the online environment. Gambling-harms have been studied by researchers from many different disciplines however few are situated from the perspective of business. There has been a dominance of quantitative gambling research but a lack of qualitative investigation into harms from the perspective of gamblers. This thesis seeks to address these issues using a pragmatic, mixed methods approach and presents empirical findings drawn from the approaches used. A group interview gathered qualitative data about the behaviour and experiences of ‘problem gamblers’ in the development of their problems and specifically what measures would have been useful for them in controlling their ‘problem gambling.’ The rich information provided by the group-interview contributed to the development of an informed online questionnaire, completed by key stakeholders in the setting which provided insights on the phenomena of ‘problem gambling’ and responsible gambling. The lived experience of ‘problem gamblers’ is at variance with key stakeholders. The findings point to a need for a new model of ‘problem gambling’ one which recognises how gambling activity has become normalised in modern culture. Research findings are discussed in relation to implications for key stakeholders who need to participate in the socio-cultural debate that surrounds gambling becoming directly involved in its complex moral issues. Recommendations discuss policy changes, drawing on both health and consumer protection for the market to improve gambler safety and responsibility of the industry

Precarious labour and disposable bodies: The effects of cultural and economic change upon sexualised labour in lap-dancing venues in Scotland

Despite concerns regarding working conditions in Scottish lap-dancing venues being raised in the 2006 report published by the then Scottish Executive’s Adult Entertainment Working Group, women’s experiences of working inside these venues remains under-researched. This thesis provides an up-to-date snapshot of working conditions in the Scottish lap-dancing industry. The study utilised in-depth, semi-structured interviews with dancers which benefitted from the researcher’s involvement in the industry. The inclusion of women’s voices led to the conclusion that wider cultural and economic changes are impacting negatively upon working experiences in venues by adversely altering the dynamics of supply and demand. This means power is felt to be partially shifting from workers to owners, and to a lesser extent, customers. Participants suggest that venues have changed from being enjoyable working environments where money could be made relatively easily to ones where the work embodies the characteristics of precarious labour where competition is rife and projected income is far less certain. A feminist and Foucoudian analysis assists in understanding and explaining these changes. The thesis suggests that simply improving working conditions for women may prove ineffective in the facilitation of a more satisfactory workplace, due to the overriding desire for profit held by both dancers and owners in an industry which has become less financially lucrative. Ultimately, the thesis reveals and explains how shifts outside the lap-dancing venues have affected dancers negatively in different ways, affecting relationships inside the venue, and the actual experience of carrying out the labour. This thesis argues that these shifts have been assisted by the provision of State policy that fails to recognise lap-dancing as a form of labour and is not concerned with dancers safety at work