VDM Verlag Understanding Problem Gambling: The Interaction of Personal and Structural Processes

In our attempts to understand human issues we tend to fragment or reduce them and distort them in the process. Very often the object of study then bears little resemblance to real life experiences and processes. In remedy, this book proposes an integrative framework to assist in understanding social phenomena in general and problematic gambling in particular. Drawing on a range of theorists from physics, biology and social theory and following a critique of positivist trends in the gambling research literature, a holistic, process-based approach is presented. This framework is then ‘road tested’ with a focus on electronic gaming machine ‘addiction’. It is concluded that the directions of the gambling industry have been primarily determined by corporate principles and imperatives and that these are deeply implicated in problematic gambling. This book will assist people concerned with social theory as well those who are involved in its application to human problems and aspirations. It includes information and ideas that will be of interest to people from many walks of life, including academics, policy makers, students, support workers and activists.