IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v694y2021i1p142-156.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

White Health Benefits of Histories of Enslavement: The Case of Opioid Deaths

Author

Listed:
  • Ryan Gabriel
  • Michael Esposito
  • Geoff Ward
  • Hedwig Lee
  • Margaret T. Hicken
  • David Cunningham

Abstract

Popular media and researchers have given increasing attention to the perceived growing alienation and despair of white Americans. The narrative of white decline has been particularly robust in light of the recent uptick in premature deaths of whites from opioid use, but this national conversation has lacked consideration of potential associations between opioid mortality among whites and durable legacies of white advantage that were established through historical racial violence. We provide an initial analysis of how contemporary patterns of white opioid mortality in the counties of southern states relate to the presence of slavery and postbellum institutions of racial social control in those counties. We find that areas in the South with higher rates of past enslavement are associated with contemporary reductions of white vulnerability, in this case, opioid mortality. This finding supports the thesis that historical institutions of racial control offer a protective benefit within the modern white population.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryan Gabriel & Michael Esposito & Geoff Ward & Hedwig Lee & Margaret T. Hicken & David Cunningham, 2021. "White Health Benefits of Histories of Enslavement: The Case of Opioid Deaths," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 694(1), pages 142-156, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:694:y:2021:i:1:p:142-156
    DOI: 10.1177/00027162211009776
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00027162211009776
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00027162211009776?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:694:y:2021:i:1:p:142-156. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.