New Careers for Moral Entrepreneurs: Teenage Drinking

Chauncey, Robert

doi:10.1177/002204268001000104

Cited by 25 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The concept of moral entrepreneurs was introduced by Becker (1963) to refer to the people who advance a moral agenda through defining some behaviour as deviant and morally questionable vs. socially acceptable and legitimate. The concept of moral entrepreneurialism has been productively applied to the work of government agencies and offices ( Chauncey, 1980 ), NGOs ( Felner, 2012 ), and professions ( Scull, 1975 ). Moral entrepreneurialism has also been located among diffuse individuals within a cultural space stemming from ‘the full panoply of cultural performances deployed by such individuals’ ( Taylor, 2010 : 303).…”

Section: The Moral Economy Perspective and Moral Entrepreneurshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral Entrepreneurialism for the Hamburger: Strategies for Marketing a Contested Fast Food

2021

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Recent research has extended the concept of moral entrepreneurialism to corporate actors. We build on this research to investigate how corporations succeed in this effort by uncovering the strategies and tools they employ as moral entrepreneurs. To do so, we examine the corporate discourse of three prominent fast-food firms to identify how they present hamburgers as good food, in a context where beef is increasingly criticized as morally suspect. Based on a discourse analysis of corporate communications and marketing campaigns, we identify three distinct discursive strategies for managing meat criticisms: (1) global managerialism (McDonald’s); (2) aestheticized simplicity (A&W); and (3) nostalgic, personalized appeals (Wendy’s). These strategies are realized through the use of informational tools to shape what customers think and know about beef, and affective tools to influence how customers feel about beef. Together, these corporate strategies speak to the skilful ability of corporate actors to respond to socio-environmental criticisms. Our case shows how fast-food market actors are able to incorporate critique and offer messages that seek to allow people to feel good about eating beef. This case is relevant to understanding the tools that corporations use to be effective moral entrepreneurs. It also provides a deeper understanding of marketing discourse at the nexus of social problems and consumption choices.

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Section: The Moral Economy Perspective and Moral Entrepreneurshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral Entrepreneurialism for the Hamburger: Strategies for Marketing a Contested Fast Food

2021

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“…Examining why certain groups and not others are identified for targeting, a critical macro analysis would also examine the role of interest groups, and 'claims-making' entrepreneurs (for example treatment providers or federal bureaucrats [25,26]), and the socio-political processes adopted in creating these targeted groups [27].…”

Section: Treatment Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drug Treatment in Contemporary Anthropology and Sociology

Hunt¹,

Barker²

1999

Eur Addict Res

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The relatively slim social science literature on drug treatment is reviewed. Attention is paid to the institutionalization of treatment at the meso (local community or clinic) level and the micro (client) level rather than to the more commonly examined macro (societal or national) level. The inter-penetration across these levels of ideologies and practices around drugs is revealed through discussion of the targeting of certain populations for treatment, methods of client control in treatment settings, and the client’s view of treatment. In the literature, drug users are often presented as passive individuals, subject to various forms of restrictive social control in therapeutic settings. Their perspective on the processes or efficacy of treatment is rarely sought. The concept of drug treatment as necessarily beneficial to clients is questioned in this paper.

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“…Public regulatory bureaucracies both initiate and receive social problems claims (Chauncey 1980, Randall & Short 1983. Several studies show government agencies as social problems entrepreneurs.…”

Section: Public Regulatory Bureaucracies and Legal Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nuehring & Markle (1974) and Troyer & Markle (1983, Markle Troyer 1979 identify the Public Health Service, the Federal Trade Commission, the Civil Aeronautics Board, the Surgeon General, and former Health Education and Welfare Secretary Joseph Califano as important entrepreneurs against smoking. Chauncey (1980) studied how NIAAA officials tried to convince the nation of the seriousness of teenage drinking. These attempts largely failed because NIAAA was unable to secure endorsement from various private and nonofficial public groups.…”

Section: Public Regulatory Bureaucracies and Legal Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Problems Theory: The Constructionist View

Schneider

1985

Annu. Rev. Sociol.

245

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This paper reviews and critiques the origin and development of a new specialty in sociology, the sociology of social problems. While social problems long has been a topic of sociological attention, it is only since the work of Blumer and, most especially, Spector & Kitsuse in the early 1970s, that a theoretically integrated and empirically viable tradition of writing and research has developed. The central proposition of this tradition is that social problems are the definitional activities of people around conditions and conduct they find troublesome, including others' definitional activities. In short, social problems are socially constructed, both in terms of the particular acts and interactions problem participants pursue, and in terms of the process of such activities through time. The founding theoretical statements are reviewed and the research is discussed in terms of the following categories: containing trouble and avoiding problems; the creation, ownership, and processing of problems; public regulatory bureaucracies and legal institutions; medicalizing problems and troubles; and social problems and the media. The paper closes with an overview of problems and insights of the perspective. There is a bibliography of 105 items.

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New Careers for Moral Entrepreneurs: Teenage Drinking

Cited by 25 publications

References 19 publications

Moral Entrepreneurialism for the Hamburger: Strategies for Marketing a Contested Fast Food

Moral Entrepreneurialism for the Hamburger: Strategies for Marketing a Contested Fast Food

Drug Treatment in Contemporary Anthropology and Sociology

Social Problems Theory: The Constructionist View

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