Award Date
1-1-2002
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Sociology
First Committee Member
Fred Preston
Number of Pages
265
Abstract
Long before medical and psychological experts determined that problem gambling qualified as a mental illness, moral experts determined that this problem could be "diagnosed" as a sin. This research examines pre-1915 gambling literature to determine the ways in which people who gambled too much were identified, named, and "treated" socially. Interestingly, virtually all of our current diagnostic criteria were identified by moral thinkers hundreds of years ago. Implications for the sociological history of problem gambling, the sociology of mental illness, and the sociology of religion and morality are discussed.
Keywords
Gambler; Gambling; History; Mental Illness; Problems; Problem Gamblers; Problem Gambler; Sickness; Sin; Sociological
Controlled Subject
Public policy; Mental health; History, Modern
File Format
File Size
6901.76 KB
Degree Grantor
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Language
English
Permissions
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Repository Citation
Bernhard, Bo Jason, "From sin to sickness: A sociological history of the problem gambler" (2002). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 2499.
http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/ur1u-b94t
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
