The Culture of Public Problems: Drinking-Driving and the Symbolic Order"Everyone knows 'drunk driving' is a 'serious' offense. And yet, everyone knows lots of 'drunk drivers' who don't get involved in accidents, don't get caught by the police, and manage to compensate adequately for their 'drunken disability.' Everyone also knows of 'drunk drivers' who have been arrested and gotten off easy. Gusfield's book dissects the conventional wisdom about 'drinking-driving' and examines the paradox of a 'serious' offense that is usually treated lightly by the judiciary and rarely carries social stigma."—Mac Marshall, Social Science and Medicine "A sophisticated and thoughtful critic. . . . Gusfield argues that the 'myth of the killer drunk' is a creation of the 'public culture of law.' . . . Through its dramatic development and condemnation of the anti-social character of the drinking-driver, the public law strengthens the illusion of moral consensus in American society and celebrates the virtues of a sober and orderly world."—James D. Orcutt, Sociology and Social Research "Joseph Gusfield denies neither the role of alcohol in highway accidents nor the need to do something about it. His point is that the research we conduct on drinking-driving and the laws we make to inhibit it tells us more about our moral order than about the effects of drinking-driving itself. Many will object to this conclusion, but none can ignore it. Indeed, the book will put many scientific and legal experts on the defensive as they face Gusfield's massive erudition, pointed analysis and criticism, and powerful argumentation. In The Culture of Public Problems, Gusfield presents the experts, and us, with a masterpiece of sociological reasoning."—Barry Schwartz, American Journal of Sociology This book is truly an outstanding achievement. . . . It is sociology of science, sociology of law, sociology of deviance, and sociology of knowledge. Sociologists generally should find the book of great theoretical interest, and it should stimulate personal reflection on their assumptions about science and the kind of consciousness it creates. They will also find that the book is a delight to read."—William B. Bankston, Social Forces |
Contents
The Culture of Public Problems | 1 |
Rhetoric and Science Creating Cognitive Order | 25 |
2 The Organization of Public Consciousness | 27 |
3 The Fiction and Drama of Public Reality | 51 |
Comedy and Pathos in Drinking Driver Research | 83 |
The Ritual of Law Creating A Moral Order | 109 |
5 Law as Public Culture | 111 |
6 The Legal Myth of Social Order | 146 |
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Common terms and phrases
acts ambiguous American analysis arrest audience authority auto accidents auto safety automobile accidents automobile safety behavior breathalyzer California causal chap chapter character cognitive concept courts crashes create crime criminal cultural deaths drinking and driving drinking-driving drunken drivers DUIA enforcement fact fatalities fiction Gusfield H. L. A. Hart Haddon Highway Safety human influence of alcohol Institute involved irony issue Journal Kenneth Burke knowledge language legal realism legislation literary major means mens rea metaphor moral motorist National National Safety Council observer officer organization percent person perspective police political presented problem drinker public action public arena public drama public problems Public Reality punishment responsibility Rhetoric ritual Safety Research San Diego San Diego County Science scientific significant social drinker Social Order society sociologist Sociology strict liability symbolic synecdoche tion traffic laws traffic offenses Traffic Safety traffic violations U.S. Congress vehicle Waller York Zylman