The American drug panic of the 1980s: social construction or objective threat?

Two perspectives have dominated the study of social problems: the objectivist and the constructionist. The objectivist approach defines social problems by the concrete, scientifically-measurable damage conditions cause, or the objective dangers they pose, to human life. The constructionist approach defines social problems by the public concern that conditions or issues generate. Constructionists often exaggerate the discrepancies that exist between the objective and the subjective dimensions--that is, for specific conditions, they argue that objectively damaging conditions may generate little or no concern, or that public concern erupts over a condition that may be stable or actually declining in objective seriousness. The American drug crisis or panic of the 1980s is used as a specific issue or condition to illuminate the viability of these two approaches. Some constructionists have minimized the objective harm caused or threat posed by drug misuse during this period, and argue that it actually diminished during the course of the 1980s, while public concern erupted. Using concrete indicators, I show that, although public concern did indeed increase dramatically, in fact, key indicators point to a concomitant increase in drug misuse during this decade, even though use indicators are actually down. While not minimizing the importance of the construction of social problems, I suggest that something of a synthesis of the objective and the subjective approaches may be necessary to understanding social problems.