Antagonism to Protagonism: Tracing the Historical Contours of Legalization in an Emerging Industry

Shalini Bhawal () and Manjula S. Salimath ()
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Shalini Bhawal: University of North Texas
Manjula S. Salimath: University of North Texas

Journal of Business Ethics, 2022, vol. 178, issue 3, No 12, 783-801

Abstract: Abstract We explore the legalization of the cannabis industry in the US, and point at the conflicted path through which this emerging industry has traversed. In particular, we highlight how this industry has navigated controversy to become one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The paper also offers a theoretical model that explains the role played by social movements to propel and shape early antagonism towards increasing protagonism. Evidence of the latter is seen in the form of cannabis laws passing at the state level in the US. We posit that resource mobilization and shaping effects were instrumental in laying the grounds for legalization. A detailed timeline of the legalization for over one and a half centuries (from 1840 to 2019) is also provided. Our synergistic approach integrates a historical perspective with social movement theory to address a relatively new and under examined phenomenon in the emerging US legal cannabis industry and ensuing ethical implications.

Keywords: Cannabis industry; Social movements; Contested domain; Legalization; Antagonism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-021-04813-4

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