RT Article
T1 Capital in illegal online drug markets: How digital capital changes the cultural environment of drug dealing
JF Theoretical criminology
VO 27
IS 3
SP 421
OP 438
A1 Bakken, Silje Anderdal
A2 Oksanen, Atte
A2 Demant, Jakob Johan
LA English
YR 2023
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1854429728
AB Digital societies demand technological competence, including for actors in illegal activity. Inspired by Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and related criminological concepts such as street capital, this study analyses digital capital as a wider concept relating to digital drug markets that capture both technological and cultural competences. We pursue this empirically via interview data (N = 107) on social media and darknet drug markets. The overall need for digital competence erodes the earlier divide in drug markets based on either subculture or networks. The need to be familiar with mainstream technological tools and behaviours connects digital drug markets to more general cultural competencies. Consequently, illegal activities become connected with mainstream cultural capital because both fields value the same competencies.
K1 Internet
K1 Social Network
K1 street capital
K1 Bourdieu
K1 Social Media
K1 Technology
K1 Culture
K1 Capital
K1 Illegal drugs
K1 illicit drug markets
DO 10.1177/13624806221143365