TY - JOUR

T1 - Immoral, deviant, or just normal

T2 - Drunk drivers' narratives of drinking and drunk driving

AU - Fynbo, Lars

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Contemporary research often relates driving under the influence(DUI) to alcohol addiction and young drunk drivers, in particular,to social deviance. Based on qualitative interviews with 25convicted drunk drivers, this article studies the relationshipbetween drinking and DUI. The article focuses on three differentcategories of drunk drivers. In the first, drunk drivers consideraddiction to be the main cause of DUI. In the second, they positionthemselves within subcultural groups often engaged in using illicitdrugs, alcohol, and DUI. Both of these categories agree withconceptions of DUI as resulting from alcoholism or social deviance.However, the interviews also revealed a third type of relationshipbetween drinking and DUI. Interviewees in this third categoryrejected the other two relationships by dissociating themselves fromalcoholism and social deviance. Instead, they described themselvesand their relationship between drinking and DUI as normal. Thearticle thus concludes that while some drunk drivers view themselvesin line with popular conceptions of DUI, others distance themselvesfrom these associations so as to present themselves as normal.

AB - Contemporary research often relates driving under the influence(DUI) to alcohol addiction and young drunk drivers, in particular,to social deviance. Based on qualitative interviews with 25convicted drunk drivers, this article studies the relationshipbetween drinking and DUI. The article focuses on three differentcategories of drunk drivers. In the first, drunk drivers consideraddiction to be the main cause of DUI. In the second, they positionthemselves within subcultural groups often engaged in using illicitdrugs, alcohol, and DUI. Both of these categories agree withconceptions of DUI as resulting from alcoholism or social deviance.However, the interviews also revealed a third type of relationshipbetween drinking and DUI. Interviewees in this third categoryrejected the other two relationships by dissociating themselves fromalcoholism and social deviance. Instead, they described themselvesand their relationship between drinking and DUI as normal. Thearticle thus concludes that while some drunk drivers view themselvesin line with popular conceptions of DUI, others distance themselvesfrom these associations so as to present themselves as normal.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

M3 - Journal article

VL - 41

SP - 233

EP - 260

JO - Contemporary Drug Problems

JF - Contemporary Drug Problems

SN - 0091-4509

IS - Summer

ER -