In this five-minute interview, Sociologist Joel Best debunks the idea that people are poisoning Halloween candy and talks about how his research in the area prompted his career studying the social construction of social problems:
In this five-minute interview, Sociologist Joel Best debunks the idea that people are poisoning Halloween candy and talks about how his research in the area prompted his career studying the social construction of social problems:
Comments 6
cornpicker73 — October 26, 2012
This is great and reminds me of Free Range Kids. https://www.facebook.com/FreeRangeKids?fref=ts
Dr. Robert Runte — October 26, 2012
If memory serves, there was a guy in Edmonton back in the late 1950s or early 1960s who was arrested for putting razors in kid's candy; and a couple of copy cats the following year. I remember that nobody had ever worried about that before in my neighbourhood, and then all of a sudden, we had to get our candy checked before we were allowed to eat it.... Of course, if the halloween poisoner is an ongoing mythology, maybe that original guy from my childhood was a 'copy cat' too.
Social Problems and the Myth of Poison Halloween Candy — Interview with Joel Best | The Prime Directive — October 28, 2012
[...] to Sociological Images. Share this:Email This entry was posted in Videos. Bookmark the permalink. ← [...]
Trenton — November 1, 2013
Moral Panic
James Jordan — September 5, 2023
This is a fascinating and enlightening interview that challenges the common myth of poisoned Halloween candy. I appreciate how Joel Best explains the sociological perspective on how this myth emerged and persisted.
Landscaping Services in Vandenberg Village CA