Adam Jacobs @ UW Sociology

Dissertation abstract:

Poker Calls and Tobacco Leaves
The Changing Regulation of Risk

Adam Jacobs

My dissertation examines the changing regulation of risk. I focus on two behaviors whose acceptance has changed dramatically in the past 50 years: tobacco and gambling. While gambling has been legalized and expanded in almost every part of the world, tobacco has been almost universally restricted and stigmatized.

This project is divided into three parts: a state-centered component that focuses on the role of sin taxes and gambling revenue in the fiscal crisis of the state; a sociology of knowledge component that explores how gambling has been categorized within neuroscience and social science; and a legal component that explores how legislation and litigation have changed the landscape of disputes for these risky industries.

Overall, this project addresses the limits of private choice and how norms change over time. The study of gamblign and tobacco addresses issues of community development, crime and deviant behavior, the role of the state in regulation, and the political economy of vice. This research also has implications for future struggles over risky behaviors and the limits of private choice, especially obesity, prostitution, alcoholism and drug use.


Adam Jacobs @ UW Sociology
Dissertation abstract: Poker Calls and Tobacco Leaves The Changing Regulation of Risk Adam Jacobs My dissertation examines the changing regulation of risk. I focus on two behaviors whose acceptance has changed dramatically in the past 50 years: tobacco and gambling. While gambling has been legalized and expanded in almost every part of the world, tobacco has been almost universally restricted and stigmatized. This project is divided into three parts: a state-centered component that focuses on the role of sin taxes and gambling revenue in the fiscal crisis of the state; a sociology of knowledge component that explores how gambling has been categorized within neuroscience and social science; and a legal component that explores how legislation and litigation have changed the landscape of disputes for these risky industries. Overall, this project addresses the limits of private choice and how norms change over time. The study of gamblign and tobacco addresses issues of community development, crime and deviant behavior, the role of the state in regulation, and the political economy of vice. This research also has implications for future struggles over risky behaviors and the limits of private choice, especially obesity, prostitution, alcoholism and drug use. Hosted by the Social Science Computing Cooperative, University of Wisconsin