COMMENTS

  1. Subcultural evolution and illicit drug use

    In this manner, drug use occurs within a cultural context. Our theory of subcultural evolution and drug use seeks to explicate central aspects to the nature of this relationship. This theory is primarily based on our extensive empirical research on heroin, crack, and marijuana use in the U.S., especially among inner-city populations.

  2. The Culture and Subcultures of Illicit Drug Use and Distribution

    Third, the relationship between subculture and drugs should be understood in relation to the larger intellectual developments in the use of subculture over the last century. The normalization dialogue has resulted in new challenges for understanding drug (sub)cultures, including the challenge of understanding how, in light of drugs being part ...

  3. (PDF) Subcultural Evolution and Illicit Drug Use

    The prevailing culture and subcultures affect drugs' popularity by imparting significance to their use. Innovations, historical events, and individual choices can cause subcultures to emerge and ...

  4. Drug Cultures and the Culture of Recovery

    The text boxes in this chapter offer examples of the distinct values, languages, rituals, and types of artistic expression associated with particular drug cultures. Many subcultures exist outside mainstream society and thus are prone to fragmentation. A single subculture can split into three or four related subcultures over time.

  5. Culture and Substance Abuse: Impact of Culture Affects Approach to

    Dwight Heath 1 offers a simple definition: "It [culture] is a system of patterns of belief and behavior that shape the worldview of the member of a society. As such, it serves as a guide for action, a cognitive map, and a grammar for behavior." Substance abuse refers to the abuse of alcohol and other drugs, primarily illicit drugs, but what is ...

  6. Subcultural evolution and illicit drug use*

    A subcultural view provides insight into the widespread use of licit drug, the dynamics of drug eras (or epidemics), the formation of drug generations, and the apparent "gateway" phenomenon in the United States. This article articulates a subcultural basis to the evolving popularity for different illicit drugs primarily based on empirical research in the United States, especially among ...

  7. Drug Subcultures in the American City, 1800-present

    The use of illicit drugs in US cities led to the development of important subcultures with shared practices, codes, discourses, and values. From the 19th century onward, American city dwellers have indulged in opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, cannabis, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), crack, and 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (also known as ...

  8. Youth subcultures, normalisation and drug prohibition: The politics of

    This article provides a new reading of the crossover between youth subculture and drug consumption, and seeks to demonstrate that drug prohibition has entered a legitimation crisis in social and political policy (Habermas, 1975). ... McRobbie, A. and Garber, J. (1975) Girls and Subculture. Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 7/8, Centre for ...

  9. Subcultural evolution and illicit drug use

    Abstract. This article articulates a subcultural basis to the evolving popularity for different illicit drugs primarily based on empirical research in the United States, especially among inner-city populations. From this perspective, drug use emerges from a dialectic between drug subcultures with individual identity development.

  10. Special Issue on Culture and Substance Use

    The studies in this special issue highlight the numerous ways that culture can be defined, the wide variety of social norms about substance use that can develop within cultural groups, and the reciprocal influences between culture and substance use. We hope this special issue will inspire the field to ask more complex relevant questions about ...

  11. Drug Use in Relation to Popular Culture, Media and Identity

    The objective of this study is to examine the extent to which representations of drug use within popular culture and media, are impacting an individual's identity within contemporary society. ... who also gained widespread media coverage. Tabloid papers reported that Price had taken mephedrone alongside ketamine, later dying of heart failure ...

  12. Drugs and Popular Culture: Drugs, Media and Identity in Contemporary

    Drugs' centrality to popular culture is further demonstrated by reference to the rise of ecstasy as a global drug, lifestyle and influence on alcohol consumption. In contrast, Leighton Grist's chapter on the representation of drugs and family in film demonstrates that drugs are portrayed as far from normalized in such films as Blow ...

  13. Socialization into Addict Subculture and Resocialization into Wide

    Abstract. The drug addict subculture is composed of values, norms, and behavior patterns connected with drugs and the use of drugs. This subculture constitutes a way of life deviating from that which characterizes the surrounding normative world. The members of the subculture are partially — but not totally — cut off from the wide society ...

  14. Beyond "Subculture" in the Ethnography of Illicit Drug Use

    Abstract. "Subculture" has been an important conceptual and methodological tool in the ethnographic study of drug use and drug-related harm, particularly heavy drug use among marginalized populations. When researching those whose drug use is less all-consuming, however, this concept does not serve us so well. What term or terms might ...

  15. Drug Abuse in the Inner City: Impact on Hard-Drug Users and the ...

    this essay, involvement with drugs and the criminal underclass is a major factor in creating persons who will experience such multiple social problems, with wide-ranging negative impacts on their families and neighborhoods. The criminal underclass subculture refers to the values, conduct norms,

  16. Symbolic boundaries, subcultural capital and prescription drug misuse

    Introduction. The proliferation of prescription drug misuse during the past decade has permeated the worlds that young people inhabit. Indeed, young adults are a key segment of the population for the misuse of prescription drugs; 'misuse' being typically defined as using prescription drugs obtained from a non-medical source or using prescription drugs for a non-medical or recreational ...

  17. Trainspotting: Drug Addiction and Drug Subculture Essay

    Trainspotting: Drug Addiction and Drug Subculture Essay. "Over the years, heroin and addiction have provided the subject matter for more than a few noteworthy films." The cult film Trainspotting, based on Irvine Welsh's book of the same title, offers an attractive case study as it represents a wide view of British youth culture by considering a ...

  18. The Role of Perceived Belongingness to a Drug Subculture Among Opioid

    Moreover, chronic drug use may create a context in which belonging to a subculture of drug use may supersede motivations or the perceived ability to belong to more mainstream, drug-free communities. To date, discussion of belongingness to drug subculture has been mainly anecdotal ( Hughes, 2007 ; Bell, 2010 ; Singer, 2006 ; Mullen & Hammersley ...

  19. 7.4 Explaining Drug Use

    These explanations assume that users have personality traits that predispose them to drug use. These traits include low self-esteem and low self-confidence, low trust in others, and a need for thrills and stimulation. In effect, drug users have inadequate personalities, or personality defects, that make them prone to drug use, and once they ...

  20. Drinking and Drug Use in Youth Cultures: 1. Building Identity and Community

    issues related to drinking or drug use in different youth cultures! subcultures. In addition to empirical studies, both qualitative and quantita­ tive, the papers at the conference included some review papers. The papers in these two issues ofContemporary Drug Problems are selected and revised from the qualitative and the review papers.

  21. Subculture Theory: An Historical and Contemporary Assessment of the

    Subcultures attract attention in culture, society, and the media because they have been theorized as not merely distinct from, but also in opposition to, the dominant culture. In the United States and the United Kingdom the concept of subculture has been a major explanatory tool for sociology and criminology to understand deviant behavior.

  22. Subcultural Theories of Deviance

    Subcultural theorists argue that deviance is the result of whole groups breaking off from society who have deviant values (subcultures) and deviance is a result of these individuals conforming to the values and norms of the subculture to which they belong. In contrast to Social Control theorists, it is the pull of the peer group that encourages ...

  23. The Concept of Subculture in Contemporary Literary and Cultural Studies

    Subculture, despite the term's wide usage in sociology, has not proved to be a very satisfactory explanatory concept. Several problems in previous subculture research are discussed: (1) the confusion between subculture and subsociety, (2) the lack of a meaningful referent for subculture, (3) the homogeneity and stasis associated with the concept, and (4) the emphasis on defining subcultures in ...

  24. Drug distributors strike $300 million opioid settlement with US health

    The three largest U.S. drug distributors have agreed to pay $300 million to resolve claims by health insurers and benefit plans that they helped fuel the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic, according to ...