Instruction
First, read the article found here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/us/overdoses-youtube-opioids-drugs.html (or search "NY Times How Do You Recover After Millions Have Watched You Overdose?")
Then, in a one-page paper, answer the following questions:
1. What would a labeling theorist say about the impact of overdose videos on the people featured in those videos? Use the concepts of "stigma," "role engulfment," and "master status" in your answer. Use specific examples from the New York Times article.
2. One expert quoted in the article remarked "The intent [of overdose videos] is not to help these people. The intent is to use them as an object lesson by scapegoating them." Sociologists similarly note that "folk devils" operate as scapegoats for social problems.
Based on what you've read about moral panics and folk devils, do you think that individuals addicted to opioids are contemporary folk devils? Why or why not?