An international perspective on "gambling": outdated theories, emerging issues

Journal title SICUREZZA E SCIENZE SOCIALI
Author/s Maurizio Esposito, Lucio Meglio
Publishing Year 2022 Issue 2022/1 Language Italian
Pages 15 P. 15-29 File size 249 KB
DOI 10.3280/SISS2022-001003
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In the contemporary public debate, the issue of gambling appears to be one of the most debated topics. The IT developments, with the new ways of online games, have in fact made it possible to expand the phenomenon, making it more and more widespread. Theoretical thought, however, does not seem to keep pace with the social implications opened by this phenomenon. The first explicitly socio-logical analysis of gambling dates back to 1949, thanks to the studies of Edward Devereux. In the field of sociology, a line of studies on the social implications of gambling had not yet emerged. In this article, we retrace the history of the contri-bution that sociological theories have given to the study of this phenomenon, di-viding perspectives and theories of analysis into two great schools of thought: functionalist approaches, from Devereux onwards, and the dysfunctional ap-proaches, that had their progenitor in Herbert Bloch (1951).

Keywords: gambling; social sciences; theory; social exploitation.

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Maurizio Esposito, Lucio Meglio, Una prospettiva internazionale sul gioco d’azzardo: teorie superate, questioni emergenti in "SICUREZZA E SCIENZE SOCIALI" 1/2022, pp 15-29, DOI: 10.3280/SISS2022-001003