Sociology Ph.D. Dissertations

The Normalization and Destigmatization of Raves

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

John Boman IV (Committee Chair)

Second Advisor

Danielle Kuhl (Committee Member)

Third Advisor

Jeffrey Miner (Committee Member)

Fourth Advisor

Bryan Miller (Committee Member)

Fifth Advisor

Stephen Demuth (Committee Member)

Abstract

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, raves were engulfed in a moral panic about ecstasy use. As a result, they were the subject of some of the harshest criminal legislation in U.S. history and were fully stigmatized as a drug subculture. Since then, however, literature — like the broader moral panic — about raves has decreased significantly. And yet, in the last 10 years, electronic dance music (EDM), raves primary cultural product (Anderson 2009a), has become incredibly popular. Raves and EDM events have garnered hundreds of thousands of attendees and billions of dollars. EDM DJs, once marginalized, are now part of mainstream popular culture. Using both original and secondary datasets that draw on different populations, I explore six research questions: 1) Do ravers still experience stigma?, 2) what predicts experiencing rave-related stigma?, 3) are raves considered normal among the public?, 4) does rave-related stigma still exist?, 5) what is associated with perceptions of raves as normalized and destigmatized?, and 6) how have the predictors of rave attendance changed year to year from 2005-2019? Overall, this project finds evidence that rave-related stigma has decreased over the years, though it still exists to an extent. Further, experiencing rave-related stigma and having destigmatized and normalized perceptions of ravers varies by certain characteristics. For instance, ravers who mostly go to non-mainstream events have higher odds of experiencing rave-related stigma. Respondents in the public sample have more stigmatized views of ravers if they have confidence in the press and if they report more agreement with stigmatizing statements about the LGBTQIA+ community. Respondents report stronger agreement with statements describing raves/ravers as normal if they also report stronger disagreement with stigmatizing statements about the LGBTQIA+ community, if they more strongly agree with statements describing club drugs as acceptable, and if they have ever gone to a dance club. Finally, there is no consistent, clear evidence of change in the relationship between doing club drugs and rave attendance or between race and rave attendance. However, there is some mixed evidence for the hypothesis that the relationship between gender and rave attendance would weaken throughout the years.

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