Dry' Laws in the American South: A Social Context of Sustained Policy

Despite Prohibition's repeal, a significant proportion of Americans still reside in counties that prohibit the retail sale of distilled spirits. This paper examines variation in prohibitive alcohol control policies at the county-level in 1980 and 2000 as a function of a community's social context. Particular attention is given to the presence of dominant cultural belief systems and varying patterns of social relations. Drawing from the contextual constructionist perspective (Best [1989] 1995), this paper examines objective conditions and subjective interpretation systems that facilitate claims about the problematic nature of alcohol. Within the context of the new temperance era, it is found that religious institutions and measures of social homogeneity are positively related to the likelihood that a county will sustain dry policy. However, this relationship is contingent on the spatial distribution of fatal alcohol-related automobile accidents within and outside of a county.