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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Learning From Las Vegas: Addiction, Limbic Capitalism, And Pleasure Meccas, David T. Courtwright
Learning From Las Vegas: Addiction, Limbic Capitalism, And Pleasure Meccas, David T. Courtwright
David T. Courtwright
In this Gaming Research Colloquium talk, Courtwright (Presidential Professor, Department of History, University of North Florida) discusses three overlapping features of modern history: the global spread of potentially addictive pleasures, limbic capitalism (the production of goods and services that stimulate pleasure and emotional responses in the brain), and the rise of pleasure meccas. He traces the economic, social, technological, and ideological changes that led to the rise of the meccas, and several potential challenges to them.
Learning From Las Vegas: Gambling, Technology, Capitalism, And Addiction, David T. Courtwright
Learning From Las Vegas: Gambling, Technology, Capitalism, And Addiction, David T. Courtwright
Occasional Papers
Gambling has always led to addictive behavior in some individuals. However, the number and types of addicted gamblers have changed over time and in response to specific gambling environments. Recent work by historians, journalists, and anthropologists, reviewed in this paper, suggests that the situation worsened during the modern era, and that it has become worse still during the last half century. Technological, organizational, and marketing innovations have “weaponized” gambling, increasing both the likelihood that people will gamble and that they will gamble compulsively—a phenomenon with parallels to several other consumer products, including processed food, digitized games, and psychoactive drugs.