The State of Kuwait has become well known since the Persian Gulf War. The country has tourism potential because of the international awareness arising from that conflict. This research compares the image of Kuwaiti tourism sights as perceived by Kuwaiti university students and English-speaking foreigners living in Kuwait. The findings show that the sample groups have different perceptions of tourism attractions and that neither group is very impressed with the attractions.

In the last few years, 'meth' (methamphetamine) has become a major concern for law enforcement officials in rural America. Meth is the label given to a homemade substance that is manufactured (typically) in rural labs using fertilizers, cold tablets, and household acids. The amateur nature of the production process separates meth from its commercially produced equivalents, the stimulant medications that are the first-line therapy agents for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy and that are authorized by the United States Air Force as fatigue countermeasures. A way to understand the social construction of the meth-scare is to apply the moral panic conceptual framework. A moral panic is a social condition that becomes defined as a threat to community values and whose nature is presented in a stereotypical fashion by the mass media. The official reaction to the social condition is out of all proportion to the alleged threat. Reporting about a moral crisis involves a continuous exaggeration of the problematic aspects of the social condition and an ongoing repetition of fallacies. Discussions of meth tend to obscure its nature while heightening horrors that immediately promote a limited and inaccurate notion of the nature of meth. The emergence of the idea that meth is something new has activated a particular set of social responses that have a harsh impact on those designated as meth users. The meth scare is blinding people to the plight of white, underclass, rural, poor people.

This study is a semiotic ethnography and ethnomusicological comparison of the rhetoric of violence found in two increasingly popular musical forms, rap and country. Based on the production‐of‐culture perspective, musical genres are considered socially constructed organizing principles and lyrics, the primary data, are viewed as ensembles of texts. The strategy is to address rap and country songs as they present claims concerning the focal concerns of trouble and toughness. First, analysis is framed in terms of three violent crimes–murder, manslaughter, and assault. Second, dimensions of toughness are specified–physical prowess and masculinity. This study illustrates the hidden resemblances between rap and country and highlights parallels between these essentially incompatible musical domains.

In 2006, khat was the object of a federal government operation, which dismantled a Somali trafficking organization and seized five tons of the plant valued at $2 million. Khat is an evergreen tree that grows in Africa. Its leaves are chewed as a stimulant by six million people every day. This paper describes the complexity of khat, beginning with an overview of its international usage and its contradictory portrayals. Primary concern, however, is focused on khat's complexity in terms of its criminal, chemical, and cultural dimensions. According to the FBI, khat is a controlled substance. But others disagree. A khat plant might contain cathinone, a Schedule I drug. But shortly after harvesting, cathinone decomposes. Throughout history, colonizers have used laws against khat to control indigenous Muslim populations. In the U. S., utilization of khat is central to the lives of many members of immigrant communities. Targeting khat can be viewed as targeting members of these communities.

Journalistic and sociological studies of massage parlors and massage parlor customers do not serve the development of scientifically sound generalizations. They begin with the assumptions that massage parlors are brothels renamed and that the customers are problematic individuals seeking impersonal sexual exchanges. This standard view of the parlors and customers is here challenged and an alternative approach suggested. The results of an empirical examination of the customers of a West Coast massage parlor are summarized. Data were obtained by a massage parlor worker--an unnamed coauthor--who recorded information about every personal customer during her initial period of work. Both demographic and voluntaristic factors are specified. Included are ethnic origin and occupation, the proposition, the offer of financial reward, the sexual activity desired, and the sexual activity that resulted. A comparison of two views on the nature of the customer demonstrates the limitations the standard view imposes on the potential examination of massage parlors in general. Massage parlors are not brothels renamed and the massage parlor customers are not sex-seeking problematic individuals. Given the results of the empirical examination, the basic complexity of the parlors and their customers is seen as the key aspect on which scientifically sound generalization may be built.