Distilling whiteness : prohibition of alcohol and Americanization of German-Americans in Missouri /
Abstract
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] In the field of sociology, Joseph Gusfield (1963) is considered the leading authority on the prohibition of alcohol in the United States in 1919. Gusfield's (1963) status politics paradigm presents alcohol prohibition as a symbolic legislation not concerned with instrumental aspects of social control. Gusfield (1963) defines the constitutional prohibition of alcohol as serving a public display of status for rural, Protestant, natives over that of urban, Catholic, immigrants. In contrast to this perspective, the social origins of law approach (Chambliss 1964; Hall [1935] 1952; Galliher [1980] 2012) emphasizes the importance of population demographics and transformations in the economy for the development of the legal order. In particular, the social origins of law perspective describes legal changes in the United States through class conflict and racial oppression. This research tests the symbolic aspects of alcohol prohibition in the state of Missouri through the theoretical perspectives of criminology involving the social origins of law, and sociological theories on race including critical whiteness studies.
Degree
Ph. D.
Thesis Department
Rights
Access is limited to the campuses of the University of Missouri.