NCJ Number
218196
Editor(s)
Paul Manning
Date Published
2007
Length
299 pages
Annotation
This collection of papers focuses on issues in the debate about whether drug consumption has become a "normalized" part of contemporary British culture and the implications this may have for British drug policy.
Abstract
Fifteen authors approach the relationship between drug use and popular culture from distinctive disciplinary positions, including sociology, criminology, cultural studies, media studies, and film studies. The two chapters of Part I provide an introductory background on theoretical approaches and research traditions regarding illicit drug policies, with attention to drug discourses that focus on mental health and moral panic. Part 2 contains two chapters that argue for and against the "normalization thesis," which holds that drug use, particularly the use of "soft" drugs, is so prevalent as to be a normal part of contemporary British society. The six chapters of Part 3 focus on how drug use has become a part of and is viewed in popular British culture. Papers address drug use in the music, film, television, and children's literature of popular culture, as well as how the use of various drugs is discussed and portrayed in news media. The four chapters of Part 4 pertain to "identities, cultural practices, and drugs." Issues addressed are reflections of the drug culture in urban music, the identity struggles of drug-using mothers, distinctive factors in and responses to drug use by women, and the contested nature of popular drug use in childbirth. The book concludes with a chapter on the history of British drug policies to the present, with attention to how current drug policy reflects concern that drug use has become "normalized" in the United Kingdom. Chapter notes and references and a subject index