Joseph Mello | DePaul University (original) (raw)
Books by Joseph Mello
Stanford University Press, 2024
https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=31974&bottom\_ref=subject The United States has experienced... more https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=31974&bottom_ref=subject
The United States has experienced a dramatic shift in attitudes towards cannabis use from the 1970s, when only 12% of Americans said that they thought that cannabis should be legal, to today. What once had been a counterculture drug supplied for the black market by socially marginal figures like drug smugglers and hippies has become a big business, dominated by a few large corporations. Pot for Profit, traces the cultural, historical, political, and legal roots of these changing attitudes towards cannabis. The book also showcases interviews with dispensary owners, bud tenders, and other industry employees about their experience working in the legal cannabis industry, and cannabis reform activists working towards legalization. Mello argues that embracing the profit potential of this drug has been key to the success of cannabis reform, and that this approach has problematic economic and racial implications. The story of cannabis reform shows that neoliberalism may not be an absolute barrier to social change, but it does determine the terrain on which these debates must occur. When activists capitulate to these pressures, they may make some gains, but those gains come with strings attached. This only serves to reinforce the totalizing power of the neoliberal ethos on American life. The book concludes by meditating on what, if anything, can be done to move the cannabis legalization movement back onto a more progressive track.
Papers by Joseph Mello
Los Angeles Times, Opinion, 2024
Cannabis prohibition remains central to America’s failed war on drugs — upwards of half a million... more Cannabis prohibition remains central to America’s failed war on drugs — upwards of half a million people were arrested for a cannabis offense in the U.S. in 2018, accounting for more than 43 % of all drug arrests. But times are changing: Cannabis reform is one of the most successful social movements in recent memory. Today, 24 states and Washington, D.C. allow cannabis for adult use. Although the drug remains prohibited at the federal level, the Biden administration recently began the process of reclassifying cannabis as a less dangerous substance (going from Schedule I to Schedule III). This will dramatically loosen federal restrictions on the U.S. cannabis industry, which is forecast to generate more than $30 billion in retail sales in 2024.
Yet legal cannabis has been something of a disappointment. High barriers to entry prevent many small business owners from breaking into the industry. A 2023 survey found that less than 25% of U.S. cannabis businesses are profitable, with most of the money going to a small group of large multi-state corporate operators led by predominantly white ownership groups. A 2021 report found that less than 2% of U.S. cannabis business owners are Black. These are the somewhat predictable outcomes of concessions cannabis activists made to the business community. States that have yet to pursue legal cannabis should take heed of the dangers of these compromises, or they will end up replicating the very power dynamics that legalization was supposed to disrupt
Polity, 2019
Proponents of same-sex marriage won four of five ballot measure campaigns in U.S. states in 2012.... more Proponents of same-sex marriage won four of five ballot measure campaigns in U.S. states in 2012. Many observers have argued that these victories occurred because advocates of marriage equality shifted away from rights-based appeals, and instead framed their cause as being about family, love, and commitment. This article tests this claim by examining campaign documents used in the nine marriage equality ballot measure campaigns that took place from 2008 to 2012. I find little correlation between the use of equal rights discourse and electoral failure, and argue that other factors may account for the observed differences in results. I argue that the popular narrative that rights discourse was counter-productive to efforts to advance marriage equality is overly simplistic and possibly false.
This article examines how liberals and conservatives conceptualize free speech by analyzing the w... more This article examines how liberals and conservatives conceptualize free speech by analyzing the works of Lenny Bruce and Milo Yiannopoulos. I find that conservatives and liberals have very different conceptions of what a legitimate citizen is, and this shapes their support for free speech claims. Liberals see rights as a mechanism for protecting minority groups; as such, they support speech claims when they are advanced by dissidents challenging entrenched hierarchies. In contrast, conservatives see law as beholden to the will of the majority; thus, they support speech claims when they are seen as challenging the power of subversive elites.
This essay reviews three books within the southern history literature on the white moderate’s res... more This essay reviews three books within the southern history literature on the white moderate’s response to the Civil Rights Movement; Kevin Kruse’s White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism (2005), Matthew Lassiter’s The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South (2006), and Jason Sokol’s There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, 1945-1975 (2006). I examine how white moderates impacted the struggle for African American Civil Rights, and explore how this dynamic can help us understand the trajectory of the current debate over gay rights in the United States. I argue that while the American public ultimately came to support equal rights for African Americans, and has grown more tolerant of gay rights recently, they have only been willing to do so when these rights claims are framed as benefiting “deserving” segments of these populations. This shows that rights are, to some extent, contingent resources, available primarily to those citizens who fit certain ideal types, and suggests that those individuals who are unwilling (or unable) to live up to this ideal may ultimately fail to benefit from these movements.
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emeral... more If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.
American Review of Politics, Jun 3, 2018
Stanford University Press, 2024
https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=31974&bottom\_ref=subject The United States has experienced... more https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=31974&bottom_ref=subject
The United States has experienced a dramatic shift in attitudes towards cannabis use from the 1970s, when only 12% of Americans said that they thought that cannabis should be legal, to today. What once had been a counterculture drug supplied for the black market by socially marginal figures like drug smugglers and hippies has become a big business, dominated by a few large corporations. Pot for Profit, traces the cultural, historical, political, and legal roots of these changing attitudes towards cannabis. The book also showcases interviews with dispensary owners, bud tenders, and other industry employees about their experience working in the legal cannabis industry, and cannabis reform activists working towards legalization. Mello argues that embracing the profit potential of this drug has been key to the success of cannabis reform, and that this approach has problematic economic and racial implications. The story of cannabis reform shows that neoliberalism may not be an absolute barrier to social change, but it does determine the terrain on which these debates must occur. When activists capitulate to these pressures, they may make some gains, but those gains come with strings attached. This only serves to reinforce the totalizing power of the neoliberal ethos on American life. The book concludes by meditating on what, if anything, can be done to move the cannabis legalization movement back onto a more progressive track.
Los Angeles Times, Opinion, 2024
Cannabis prohibition remains central to America’s failed war on drugs — upwards of half a million... more Cannabis prohibition remains central to America’s failed war on drugs — upwards of half a million people were arrested for a cannabis offense in the U.S. in 2018, accounting for more than 43 % of all drug arrests. But times are changing: Cannabis reform is one of the most successful social movements in recent memory. Today, 24 states and Washington, D.C. allow cannabis for adult use. Although the drug remains prohibited at the federal level, the Biden administration recently began the process of reclassifying cannabis as a less dangerous substance (going from Schedule I to Schedule III). This will dramatically loosen federal restrictions on the U.S. cannabis industry, which is forecast to generate more than $30 billion in retail sales in 2024.
Yet legal cannabis has been something of a disappointment. High barriers to entry prevent many small business owners from breaking into the industry. A 2023 survey found that less than 25% of U.S. cannabis businesses are profitable, with most of the money going to a small group of large multi-state corporate operators led by predominantly white ownership groups. A 2021 report found that less than 2% of U.S. cannabis business owners are Black. These are the somewhat predictable outcomes of concessions cannabis activists made to the business community. States that have yet to pursue legal cannabis should take heed of the dangers of these compromises, or they will end up replicating the very power dynamics that legalization was supposed to disrupt
Polity, 2019
Proponents of same-sex marriage won four of five ballot measure campaigns in U.S. states in 2012.... more Proponents of same-sex marriage won four of five ballot measure campaigns in U.S. states in 2012. Many observers have argued that these victories occurred because advocates of marriage equality shifted away from rights-based appeals, and instead framed their cause as being about family, love, and commitment. This article tests this claim by examining campaign documents used in the nine marriage equality ballot measure campaigns that took place from 2008 to 2012. I find little correlation between the use of equal rights discourse and electoral failure, and argue that other factors may account for the observed differences in results. I argue that the popular narrative that rights discourse was counter-productive to efforts to advance marriage equality is overly simplistic and possibly false.
This article examines how liberals and conservatives conceptualize free speech by analyzing the w... more This article examines how liberals and conservatives conceptualize free speech by analyzing the works of Lenny Bruce and Milo Yiannopoulos. I find that conservatives and liberals have very different conceptions of what a legitimate citizen is, and this shapes their support for free speech claims. Liberals see rights as a mechanism for protecting minority groups; as such, they support speech claims when they are advanced by dissidents challenging entrenched hierarchies. In contrast, conservatives see law as beholden to the will of the majority; thus, they support speech claims when they are seen as challenging the power of subversive elites.
This essay reviews three books within the southern history literature on the white moderate’s res... more This essay reviews three books within the southern history literature on the white moderate’s response to the Civil Rights Movement; Kevin Kruse’s White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism (2005), Matthew Lassiter’s The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South (2006), and Jason Sokol’s There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, 1945-1975 (2006). I examine how white moderates impacted the struggle for African American Civil Rights, and explore how this dynamic can help us understand the trajectory of the current debate over gay rights in the United States. I argue that while the American public ultimately came to support equal rights for African Americans, and has grown more tolerant of gay rights recently, they have only been willing to do so when these rights claims are framed as benefiting “deserving” segments of these populations. This shows that rights are, to some extent, contingent resources, available primarily to those citizens who fit certain ideal types, and suggests that those individuals who are unwilling (or unable) to live up to this ideal may ultimately fail to benefit from these movements.
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emeral... more If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.
American Review of Politics, Jun 3, 2018