The social value of drug addicts : the uses of the useless / Merrill Singer and J. Bryan Page.

Text in English.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Drugs, race, and gender in the social construction of drug consumers : Recognizing the origins of othering -- Drug Users through the Ages : When Did we decide Addicts were a Separate Category? -- Representations of Addicts and the Construction of Prohibitions -- Imagine that: Drug Users and Literature -- Picture This : Pictorial Construction of Drug Users in the World of Film -- The Legal Construction of Drug Users : Policy, the Courts, Incarcerating Institutions, Police Practice, and the War on Drugs -- Drug Users in Social Science : The Others We've Made. Conclusion.

Print version record.

Drug users are typically portrayed as worthless slackers, burdens on society, and just plain useless-culturally, morally, and economically. By contrast, this book argues that the social construction of some people as useless is in fact extremely useful to other people. Leading medical anthropologists Merrill Singer and J. Bryan Page analyze media representations, drug policy, and underlying social structures to show what industries and social sectors benefit from the criminalization, demonization, and even popular glamorization of addicts. Synthesizing a broad range of key literature and advan.

Drugs, race, and gender in the social construction of drug consumers: recognizing the origins of othering -- Drug users through the ages: when did we decide addicts were a separate category? -- Representations of addicts and the construction of prohibitions -- Imagine that: drug users and literature -- Picture this: pictorial construction of drug users in the world of film -- The legal construction of drug users: policy, the courts, incarcerating institutions, police practice, and the war on drugs -- Drug users in social science: the others we've made -- From the making and using of the useless to social integration.

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