Not offered 2007-2008
SOC 265 Drugs and Society
From nineteenth-century opium dens to early-twentieth-century speakeasies to late-twentieth-century crack houses, this course investigates the important impact of drugs
on American society. Focusing on the social control of drug and alcohol use, particularly
legal forms of social control, the course analyzes such historical developments as the rise
and fall of prohibition; the early-twentieth-century illegalization of narcotics; the emergence
of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and other self-help groups;
and the recent advent of drug courts and juvenile boot camps. The analysis will include
evaluation not only of the social influence of drugs typically classified as "illicit," such as
cocaine, opium, morphine, heroine, and marijuana, but also of alcohol, tobacco, and the
recent emergence and popularity of psycho-pharmaceutical drugs like prozac and ritalin.
Rooted in a sociological perspective, the course reviews different theoretical explanations of
drug and alcohol consumption and of the different strategies, legal and otherwise, that have
been employed to define and regulate drug use in American society.
Requirements: a research paper, a take-home midterm, and a final exam.
Enrollment limit: 40 (expected: 25). Preference given to Anthropology and Sociology
majors.
NOLAN