Global Anti-Vice Activism, 1890-1950: Fighting Drinks, Drugs, and 'Immorality'

Description

Vice was one of the primary shared interests of the global community at the turn of the twentieth century. Anti-vice activists worked to combat noxious substances such as alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, and 'immoral' sexual activities such as prostitution. Nearly all of these activists approached the issue of vice by expressing worries about the body, its physical health, and functionality. By situating anti-vice politics in their broader historical contexts, Global Anti-Vice Activism, 1890-1950 sheds fresh light on the initiatives of various actors, organizations and institutions which have previously been treated primarily within national and regional boundaries. Looking at anti-vice policy from both social and cultural historical perspectives, it illuminates the centrality of regulating vice in imperial and national modernization projects. The contributors argue that vice and vice regulation constitute an ideal topic for global history, because they bridge the gap between discourse and practice, and state and civil society.

Jessica R. Pliley is an Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender History at Texas State University, San Marcos. Robert Kramm-Masaoka is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Research Institute of Comparative History and Culture at Hanyang University, Seoul. Harald Fischer-Tine is Professor of Modern Global History at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETH-Zurich).