Defining deviancy down: a research note regarding professional wrestling

In 1993 Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan published an article in which he ar gued that deviancy has increased to such an extent in American society that , for social control purposes, much deviant behavior has been redefined as "normal." Clearly this thesis implies that a moral devaluation of behavior has occurred in the United States. There has been considerable social comme ntary on Moynihan's thesis, but little, or no, empirical testing. The prese nt article, although certainly not a test in a traditional sense, offers an assessment of the theory as it pertains to a highly popular cultural pheno menon: professional wrestling. Descriptive findings suggest that profession al wrestling has undergone a transformation consistent with Moynihan's thes is.