Synopses & Reviews
Drug use by adolescents is usually viewed as the result of personal vulnerability to peer pressures or drug pushers. This book provides a new perspective which is sociological rather than epidemiological, understanding patterns of drug-taking in the context of ordinary social interaction. In this social worlds analysis, adolescents' own concerns with boredom, depression, social identity, friendship, access to drugs, self-control and folk pharmacology replace the professionals' focus on deviant behaviour. Both drug-taking and drug-abstaining are analysed as decisions made within social worlds made up of peers and family.
About the Author
Barry Glassner is the author of the national bestseller "The Culture of Fear". He is a professor of sociology at USC, and he lives in Los Angeles.