ABSTRACT
As has been discussed, it is unusual for social problems to be adopted unquestioningly and without modification in another country, thus the construction of stalking developed in America was not merely exported wholesale to England. A problem will not be ‘naturalised’ merely by awareness of its existence elsewhere; it must also be perceived as relevant to the emergent or existing concerns in the ‘host’ country. However, the availability of a terminology and examples of the conduct concerned provided a sound basis for the emergence of stalking in England. Moreover, it did link with two existing concerns – the boundaries of acceptable sexual behaviour and the need to acknowledge the seriousness of psychological injury. The prepackaged problem and the receptive environment combined to provide fertile soil in which the seeds of stalking as a social problem could flourish.
