Gambling motivation and involvement: A review of social

However, the apparent support for the first prediction should be viewed with caution,
since there are plenty of other possible explanations, in addition to a greater
proclivity to take risks, for males gambling more than females, e.g. that men have
more money or goods to spend, more leisure time, are able to spend more time outside
the walls of the home, and are in many cultures more motivated to use money
or goods to gain or reaffirm social status. In the conclusion of the article, the author
admits that attention must be paid to the social contexts of gambling and that there
are forms of gambling that have little to do with risk taking.
RELEvancE tO pRObLEm GambLinG StudiES
Cross-cultural statistical studies may provide valuable insights into the large-scale
patterns of gambling and non-gambling cultures across time and geographical
space. Such studies tell about the functions of gambling in various types of societies
and economies. They also tell about basic social and economic factors that promote
or restrain gambling in society. As to the factors in contemporary Western societies
that differentiate levels of involvement, and the variety of individual reasons for partaking
in gambling, the studies are apparently of little relevance.
Ethnographic studies
The 19th and early 20th century ethnographic and folkloristic literature on gambling
is extensive, especially with regard to North American first nation peoples, a
representative example being the monumental work by Stewart Culin, Games of the
North American Indians [290]. However, since that literature is largely descriptive
and outdated with respect to theoretical assumptions, it will not be discussed here.
Comprehensive ethnographic studies of contemporary gambling, reported in
monographs, are quite rare [95, 101, 102, 105, 106, 115, 291–295]. The number
of articles in academic journals, book chapters or report series that present recent
ethnographic research on gambling is more substantial, but nevertheless amounts
to no more than about fifty. These texts concern gambling in Western societies [93,
118, 191, 296–308], as well as in non-Western cultures [87, 206, 309–324], and
are heterogeneous as to theory, observations and conclusions. The studies describe
one or more specific gambling settings at a particular point in time, tell about the
behavior, motives and attitudes of gamblers, and account for the cultural, societal
and organizational context. Some of the studies do not aspire to make statements
that can be generalized to gambling in other settings and cultures; the analyses are
particular, contextual and valid primarily for specific cases. Other studies have such
aspirations, and the conclusions about gambling are then typically derived from
more general sociological and anthropological theories about culture and social
organization – such as symbolic interactionalism, cultural symbolism, or exchange
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