The Street Addict Role: A Theory of Heroin Addiction (SUNY Series, the New Inequalities)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.42 (926 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0791406202 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 246 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-03-04 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
David P. Keys said Essential Reading. As usual SUNY series in inequalities has done a great job in finding and retaining the best authors and they deserve continuing credit. THE STREET ADDICT ROLE is a superb and useful book for anyone hoping to understand addiction and the opiate habit in particular. As a student of that subfield in sociology, I am frequently disappointed with the manner in which addicts and addiction are portrayed, as well as shocked as to what passes as science in relation to drug use and abuse. THE STREET ADDICT ROLE makes none of the usual errors (hedonism), asks all the right questions pertaining to the reasons why people continue to use narc
From this basic starting point, the theory explains how persons become and remain addicts and how they may eventually give up addictive behavior.. Addicts are heavily committed to this role and organize their behavior and self-identification around it. The chief role in this subculture -- the street addict role -- becomes a blueprint for living for many heroin users. The theory, which draws heavily upon the insights of symbolic interactionist and role theory, posits that there is a street subculture of heroin users. This book provides a new answer to the question, "Why do people use heroin and other street drugs?" Drawing upon a growing body of studies of drug users conducted by sociologists and anthropologists, it attempts to integrate their findings into a theoretically unified sociocultural explanation of heroin use
Harvey A. The theory is also quite interesting because Stephens has been able to plausibly explain the sociocultural roots of this behavior. He is able to explain the persistence and pervasiveness of the heroin addict s behavior. The theory is interesting because it makes sense intuitively to those of us who have had extensive experience with these kinds of drug abusers. Stephens has done a fine job in reviewing the relevant literature and bringing to bear along with it his observation encompassing a distinguished caree
Stephens is Professor of Sociology, Cleveland State University.. Richard C