Drugspeak

Fülszöveg

Drugspeak: The Analysis of Drug Discourse is about conversations with drug users. The book describes the way in which drug conversations vary and change according to context and circumstance in ways that suggest that there is no single 'truth' about the state we call 'addicted'. The central thesis of the book is that the explanations that drug users give for their drug use make sense not so much as sources of facts, but as primarily functional statements shaped by a climate of morál and legal censure. Consequently the significance of drug conversations lies not in their literal semantics but in the purposes such conversations serve. The argument raises a number of fundamental issues about the performative rather than the informative nature of language; about the misplaced view of drug use which is disseminated by politicians, the média and other public sources; about the nature of the 'scientific facts' concerning drug use; and about the very nature of science itself. Starting with... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Drugspeak: The Analysis of Drug Discourse is about conversations with drug users. The book describes the way in which drug conversations vary and change according to context and circumstance in ways that suggest that there is no single 'truth' about the state we call 'addicted'. The central thesis of the book is that the explanations that drug users give for their drug use make sense not so much as sources of facts, but as primarily functional statements shaped by a climate of morál and legal censure. Consequently the significance of drug conversations lies not in their literal semantics but in the purposes such conversations serve. The argument raises a number of fundamental issues about the performative rather than the informative nature of language; about the misplaced view of drug use which is disseminated by politicians, the média and other public sources; about the nature of the 'scientific facts' concerning drug use; and about the very nature of science itself. Starting with a generál overview of the problems arising from a mechanistic and deterministic view of science, and contrasting this with the post-modern view of scientific knowledge as reflexive and context specific, the book identifies a need for a new approach to the understanding of verbal behaviour. In response to this need, firstly a new method of 'social criterion analysis' is proposed for assessing entities such as attitudes and beliefs based on the theory of signal detection. Secondly the book gives an account of a new and innovative form of analysis based on over 500 conversations carried out with drug users in Scotland and the north of England. A system for the classification of these discourses, independent of their literal meaning, is suggested; and in a final data section evidence is presented linking particular types of conversation to particular patterns and circumstances of drug use. The book concludes in a similar manner to the previous text The Myth of Addiction; namely, the notion of addiction is defined more by culture and by social situations than by any presumed objective reality. About the Author John Booth Davies is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Centre for Applied Social Psychology at the University of Strathclyde, UK. He has studied the problems of alcohol and drug misuse in Glasgow since 1970 and has carried out research for the Scottish Office, the Scottish Prison Service, the Home Office and a number of other Government departments. He is editor of the journal Addiction Research and has published widely in the field. Amongst his previous works is the controversial book The Myth of Addiction (Harwood Academic Publishers). ISBN 90 5702 192 7 Harwood Academic Publishers is a member of The Gordon and Breach Publishing Group. Australia, Canada China, Francé, Germany, India, Japan Luxembourg, Malaysia, The Netherlands Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand United Kingdom. Vissza