How Can Sociological Theory Help Our Understanding of Addictions?

Abstract

Those who work in the addiction field usually use the pharmacological or medical model, psychological theories of behavior, or operate within the confines of a criminal justice perspective. Contributions from the field of sociology are limited to use of the methods of sociological investigations, primarily population surveys, which, typically, are used to identify groups at-risk for specific types of drug use. Surveys have identified illicit drug use as, predominantly, a problem of young males, whereas prescription drug use is predominantly a problem of middle-aged and older women in industrialized countries. Experts in addiction have accused sociologists who study addiction of being "atheoretical." Paradoxically, in the sociology field, the most highly cited article is Merton’s theory of addiction. This article will examine the contributions of sociological theory to our understanding of addiction, including social definitions of "the problem of addiction" and mechanisms to account for individual drug use within a social context that defines it as problematic.

• Addiction
• Problem deflation
• Problem inflation
• Sociological theory and addictions
• Sociology

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Manuella Adrian

Manuella Adrian, M.S.Hyg., is an adjunct assistant professor in the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Nova Southeastern University. She received her B.A. from McGill University (Canada) and her M.S.Hyg. from the University of Pittsburgh (USA). She was director of research and a senior research scientist for the Kansas Health Institute (USA), head of the Statistical Research Program and senior scientist at the Addiction Research Foundation (ARF) of Ontario (Canada), a research economist with the federal department of Health and Welfare Canada, and a policy analyst with the Canadian Ministry of State for Science and Technology. She has consulted for the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, and the Organization for the Control of Endemic Diseases in Africa. She is currently cross appointed with the University of Guelph (Canada). She is a member of the editorial board of Substance Use and Misuse, and a faculty member of the Middle Eastern Summer Institute on Drug Use (MESIDU) in Israel and the Middle Eastern-Mediterranean Summer Institute on Drug Use (MEMSIDU) in Italy.