ABSTRACT
Temperance, anti-vice, and social purity campaignsare an integral element of the history of American social movements. As the essays in this section explore, campaigns against alcohol, drugs, prostitution, homosexuality, sexually explicit materials, contraception, and abortion reflect deep-seated concerns about changing family structures, the role of women, the economic climate, industrialization, urbanization, and immigration. For two centuries, moral panics around these shifting dynamics have played a significant role in the formation of American social and governmental policy.
