Drugs and the American Dream An Anthology

by Adler, Patricia A.; Adler, Peter; O'Brien, Patrick K.

• ISBN13: 9780470670279
• ISBN10: 0470670274
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-28
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Drugs and the American Dream presents an up-to-date anthology of chiefly contemporary readings that explore the myriad sociological correlates of licit and illicit drug use in the United States. Unique approach to the topic that offers an organizing theme of sociological concepts-age, social class, ethnicity, gender, as well as societal response to drug use including drug education, treatment, and policy. The book is interdisciplinary in terms of approach, making it useful in a variety of contexts. Includes a wide array of ethnographic articles that place reader directly into the perspectives of drug users through their own voices Brief framing introductions to each article provide "interconnective tissue," guiding the student to the heart of what's important in the piece that follows. Offers a balanced approach to various substances-tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs, and illegal drugs. Provides students with a realistic perspective on the extent of substance use in American society as well as a critical appreciation of the real versus imagined harms associated with use of various substances.

Author Biography

Patricia A. Adler is Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her areas of interest are deviant behavior, social psychology, and qualitative methods. Her classic book, Wheeling and Dealing (1993), was one of the first explorations of upper-level drug dealers and smugglers.

Peter Adler is Professor of Sociology at the University of Denver. His areas of interest are sociology of drugs, sociology of sport, and symbolic interactionism. Along with Patricia, he has written many books, including Backboards & Blackboards (1991), Peer Power (1998), Paradise Laborers (2004), and The Tender Cut (2011).

Together, the Adlers were honored with the 2010 George Herbert Mead Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.

Patrick K. O'Brien is a doctoral candidatein Sociology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In 2010, O'Brien won the Outstanding Graduate Student Paper from the Drinking and Drugs Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. xi
Preface and Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Source Acknowledgments	p. xxii
About the Editors	p. xxviii
About the Contributors	p. xxx
Matrix of Drugs Addressed	p. xliii
Perspectives on Drug Use	p. 1
History and Theory
A Brief History of Alcohol	p. 4
The American Disease: Narcotics in Nineteenth-Century America	p. 9
Black Beauties, Gorilla Pills, Footballs, and Hillbilly Heroin: Prescription Drug Abuse over the Past 40 Years	p. 18
Control and Intoxicant Use: A Theoretical and Practical Overview	p. 24
Drug Scares and Moral Panics
Symbolic Crusade: Status Politics and the American Temperance Movement	p. 33
The Social Construction of Drug Scares	p. 40
Blowing Smoke: Status Politics and the Smoking Ban	p. 48
Reflections on the Meaning of Drug Epidemics	p. 55
Social Correlates of Drug Use	p. 61
Race/Ethnicity
Gen-X Junkie: Young White Heroin Users in Washington, DC	p. 64
The Intersection of Drug Use and Crime over the Life Course of Mexican-American Former Gang Members	p. 72
Righteous Dopefi end	p. 80
The Lives and Times of Asian-Pacific American Women Methamphetamine Users	p. 87
Toward a (Dys)functional Anthropology of Drinking: Ambivalence and the American Indian Experience with Alcohol	p. 94
Social Class
The Severely Distressed African American Family in the Crack Era: Empowerment Is Not Enough	p. 102
Getting Huge, Getting Ripped: An Exploration of Recreational Steroid Use	p. 112
Drugged Druggists: The Convergence of Two Criminal Career Trajectories	p. 120
Why Rich Kids Sell Street Drugs: Wankstaz, Wannabes, and Capitalists in Training	p. 131
Gender
Drugs and Eating Disorders: Women’s Instrumental Drug Use for Weight Control	p. 141
College Alcohol Use and the Embodiment of Hegemonic Masculinity among European American Men	p. 152
Mothering Through Addiction: A Survival Strategy among Puerto Rican Addicts	p. 161
Youth and Aging
Tinydopers: A Case Study of Deviant Socialization	p. 174
Grappling with the Medicated Self: The Case of ADHD College Students	p. 184
Marginality among Older Injectors in Today’s Illicit Drug Culture: Assessing the Impact of Ageing	p. 193
Baby Boomer Drug Users: Career Phases, Identity, Self-Concept, and Social Control	p. 203
Drug Lifestyles	p. 213
Managing Drug Use
Club Drug Use and Risk Management among “Bridge and Tunnel” Youth	p. 215
“I’m a Health Nut!” Street Drug Users’ Accounts of Self-Care Strategies	p. 224
Latino Gay Men’s Drug Functionality	p. 231
Cannabis, Consciousness, and Healing	p. 240
The Dealing Lifestyle	p. 249
The Economics of Drugs
Women in the Street-Level Drug Economy: Continuity or Change?	p. 257
: An Economic Analysis of a Drug-Selling Gang’s Finances	p. 266
Crime and Violence
The Drugs/Violence Nexus: A Tripartite Conceptual Framework	p. 277
Managing Retaliation: Drug Robbery and Informal Sanction Threats	p. 285
Mexico: Cartels, Corruption, and Cocaine: A Profi le of the Gulf Cartel	p. 295
Systemic Violence in Drug Markets	p. 305
Societal Response to Drug Use	p. 313
Education
A Decade of DARE: Efficacy, Politics and Drug Education	p. 316
Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens, Drugs, and Drug Education	p. 327
Treatment
The Therapeutic Community: Perspective and Approach	p. 336
Illness Narratives of Recovering on Methadone Maintenance	p. 344
The Elephant that No One Sees: Natural Recovery among Middle-Class Addicts	p. 351
Drug Treatment Courts and the Disease Paradigm	p. 359
Policy
Reducing Harms from Youth Drinking	p. 370
Refl ections on Drug Policy	p. 378
Think Again: Drugs	p. 386
The Secret of Global Drug Prohibition: Its Uses and Crises	p. 391
Index	p. 400
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