Title:
The social value of drug addicts : uses of the useless / Merrill Singer, J Bryan Page.
Author:
Singer, Merrill.
Page, J. Bryan, 1947-
Publication Information:
Walnut Creek, California : Left Coast Press Inc., [2014]
Call Number:
HV5801 .S48 2014
Abstract:
"Drug users are typically portrayed as worthless slackers, burdens on society, and just plain useless--culturally, morally, and economically. By contrast, this book argues that the social construction of some people as useless is in fact extremely useful to other people. Leading medical anthropologists Merrill Singer and J. Bryan Page analyze media representations, drug policy, and underlying social structures to show what industries and social sectors benefit from the criminalization, demonization, and even popular glamorization of addicts. Synthesizing a broad range of key literature and advancing innovative arguments about the social construction of drug users and their role in contemporary society, this book is an important contribution to public health, medical anthropology, popular culture, and related fields"-- Provided by publisher.
ISBN:
9781611321173
9781611321180
9781611321197
Physical Description:
248 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
General Note:
Machine generated contents note: IntroductionChapter 1. The Social Construction of Drug ConsumersChapter 2. Drug Users through the Ages: When Did Addicts Become a Separate Category?Chapter 3. Representations of Addicts and the Construction of ProhibitionsChapter 4. Imagine That: Drug Users and LiteratureChapter 5. Picture This: Pictorial Construction of Drug Users in the World of FilmChapter 6. The Legal Construction of Drug Users:Policy, the Courts, Incarcerating Institutions, Police Practice, and the War on DrugsChapter 7. Drug Users in Social Science: The Others We've MadeConclusionReferencesIndexAbout the Authors.
Contents:
Drugs, race, and gender in the social construction of drug consumers: recognizing the origins of othering -- Drug users through the ages: when did we decide addicts were a separate category? -- Representations of addicts and the construction of prohibitions -- Imagine that: drug users and literature -- Picture this: pictorial construction of drug users in the world of film -- The legal construction of drug users: policy, the courts, incarcerating institutions, police practice, and the war on drugs -- Drug users in social science: the others we've made -- From the making and using of the useless to social integration.
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