Soc 377 Test 1

Central nervous system

1. central nervous system functions
2. thought processes
3. emotional responses
4. perceptions of the world around us

1. measurable effects resulting from ingestion
2. influenced by routes of administration

1.grounded in experiential reality of the user 2. influenced by set and setting

expectations, emotional state, or mood

Environment in which use takes place

Drugs are a social and cultural phenomena - thus,
Focus is on the social contexts and forces which influence and define use
Concepts of ‘drug use,’ ‘drug abuse,’ and ‘drug addiction’ are socially constructed
Understanding psychoactive substance use and “why” people use requires investigation of subjective dimensions of concern (set and setting)

Focus on how the biochemical substances affect the structure and function of the human body
testable by experiments
No interest in subjective factors

Focus is subjective and on traditional, non-industrial societies
Concentration on the customs of drug use in these cultures
Primarily use ethnographic methods
coca-leaf chewing by indigenous people of the Andes mountains
drug use in U.S. by direct observation and open ended interviews (ethnographic methods)

Focus on political and governmental processes and the way power is acquired and used
Ex: effects of cocaine trafficking on a government’s functioning and how drug money can corrupt the democratic process
Interest in political influence on the origin of drug laws and drug legislation

Focus on the impact of drug abuse on economic productivity
Ex: research on economics of the cocaine trade

Columbian currency devalued and hyperinflation of 1980’s due to billions of dollars from cocaine

Americans spent about 100 billion dollars a year on illegal drugs during the 1980’s

Focus on drug use throughout history
Documenting legal status of chemical substances changing over time once harm is recognized, as well as social and political changes over time

Focus on individual and personality characteristics of those who are more likely to use drugs
Focus on factors endogenous to an individual

personality “types”

also focus on the objective effects of drugs on an individual’s personality, thinking, emotions, and motivation

Sociologists focus on:
-behavior within and between social groups -connection between behavioral patterns of subgroups in society and the exogenous factors to which they are exposed
-Research differences in patterns -show social and cultural factors influence how society defines what a drug is and is not -Meanings attached to drugs and drug use, overall social impact, etc.

Sociologists focus on social dimensions, or the social contexts and forces that shape behavior -Impact of group response to behavior AND…
-How the concept of what a drug “means” is affected by a variety of social factors that influence drug users and drug-using experiences:
-meaning attached to drug use, drug abuse, and drug addiction and/or dependency is a matter of social negotiation

Social dimensions, or the social contexts and forces that shape behavior

§Impact of group response to behavior

How the concept of what a drug “means” is affected by a variety of social factors that influence drug users and drug-using experiences:

§meaning attached to drug use, drug abuse, and drug addiction and/or dependency is a matter of social negotiation