Addiction Careers and Careers in Addiction

Abstract

Research into resocialization of criminals or into recovery from substance dependence has stressed the need to give up the deviant identity and lifestyle. However, addiction careers, crime, and other types of deviant behavior require a wide range of skills. Such competence may facilitate the alternative or simultaneous pursuit of “respectable” careers in treatment, prevention, research, or policy matters. Former alcoholics fill important positions in the service structures of Alcoholics Anonymous, current or former users are appreciated as partners in AIDS prevention programs, and drug addicts can become privileged-access interviewers and be recruited by research institutes. The paper discusses “market conditions” that favor or impede career shifts. How society and professionals perceive individuals with a history of stigma varies from complete rejection to admiration or recognition of usefulness. This assessment depends on such factors as degree of political and scientific interest in controlling, changing, and detecting hidden deviant populations, as well as public fascination with “authentic” deviants, combined with increasing scepticism about conventional expert knowledge.

Key Words:

• Respectable and deviant careers
• Individual change
• Two-world lifestyles
• Role of the “professional-ex”
• Insider knowledge