SOCIAL MONITORING AS SOCIAL-CONTROL - THE CASE OF DRUG-TESTING IN A MEDICAL WORKPLACE

While workplace drug testing has received considerable public and scho larly attention, little of this discussion has focused on the social c ontext within which resting is likely to occur. This paper conceptuali zes drug resting as social monitoring and examines testing within a fr amework suggested by Donald Black's theory of social control. The cent ral idea is that the formality of social monitoring within a group is a function of its members' social status and the social distance among them. The paper evaluates this argument in one empirical setting. Ana lysis of data from U.S. departments of anesthesiology indicates that d rug testing, an example of formal monitoring, most often emerges in a context marked by low normative respectability and a lack of intimate relationships. The paper concludes by suggesting how variations in mon itoring procedures like drug testing may affect ensuing processes of s ocial control.