1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910809893203321

Autore

Singer Merrill.

Titolo

The social value of drug addicts : uses of the useless / / Merrill Singer and J. Bryan Page

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London : , : Routledge, , 2016

ISBN

1-315-41715-4

1-315-41716-2

1-315-41717-0

1-61132-119-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (249 p.)

Classificazione

SOC057000SOC002010MED078000

Altri autori (Persone)

PageJ. Bryan <1947->

Disciplina

305.9/084

Soggetti

Drug abuse - Social aspects

Drug addicts

Social values

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

First published 2014 by Left Coast Press, Inc.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Conte nts; Introduction; 1. Drugs, Race, and Gender in the Social Construction of Drug Consumers: Recognizing the Origins of Othering; 2. Drug Users through the Ages: When Did We Decide Addicts Were a Separate Category?; 3. Representations of Addicts and the Construction of Prohibitions; 4. Imagine That: Drug Users and Literature; 5. Picture This: Pictorial Construction of Drug Users in the World of Film; 6. The Legal Construction of Drug Users: Policy, the Courts, Incarcerating Institutions, Police Practice, and the War on Drugs; 7. Drug Users in Social Science: The Others We've Made

Conclusion: From the Making and Using of the Useless to Social IntegrationReferences; Index; About the Authors

Sommario/riassunto

"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"--