Shifts and Oscillations in Deviant Careers: The Case of Upper-Level Drug Dealers and Smugglers (From Constructions of Deviance: Social Power, Context, and Interaction, P 560- 572, 1994, Patricia A and Peter Adler, eds. -- See NCJ-151012)

• NCJ Number: 151032
• Author(s): P A Adler; P Adler
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 13 pages
• Sale Source: Wadsworth Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from Social Problems, V 31, N 2 (1983)

Annotation

This study of an elite community of upper-level drug dealers and smugglers in southwestern California found that drug careers were temporary and characterized by multiple retirement attempts.

Abstract

Veteran drug traffickers quit their occupation due to ambivalent feelings they developed toward a deviant lifestyle. As they aged, their experience shifted from an exhilarating and free work life to one that became increasingly dangerous and confining. Both careers and retirements, however, were temporary. Potential recruits were lured into the drug business by materialism, hedonism, glamor, and excitement. Established dealers were lured away from a deviant lifestyle and back into the mainstream by the attractions of security and social ease. Retired drug dealers and smugglers re-entered the business because of the ability to make money quickly and easily. People who had been exposed to upper-level drug trafficking found it extremely difficult to quit their careers permanently. This stemmed, in part, from their difficulties in moving from the illegitimate to the legitimate business sector. Even more significant was the affinity they formed for deviant values and lifestyles. Further research is recommended to study the complex process of how people switch from deviant careers into the world of legitimate work. 16 references and 7 notes