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- Title
From Abusive Families to Internet Predators?
- Authors
Pratt, John
- Abstract
This article traces the development, retraction and reconfiguration of the way in which sexual abuse has been understood as a social problem in Canada. It looks at the processes of its social construction and situates these within a theoretical framework derived from Ian Hacking's work on transient mental illness. It argues that sexual abuse was able to flourish as a social problem because of the 'ecological niche' constituted by the presence of four vectors: cultural polarity, observability, recognition of victims and expert classification. As this confluence has changed, however, so too has the framework of understanding that had been provided for it, leading to its current retraction and reconfiguration.
- Subjects
CANADA; ONLINE sexual predators; ABUSIVE parents; INTERNET; SEX crimes; SOCIAL problems; MENTAL illness; HACKING, Ian, 1936-2023
- Publication
Current Sociology, 2009, Vol 57, Issue 1, p69
- ISSN
0011-3921
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1177/0011392108097453