Institutional Fads and the Medicalization of Drug Addiction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12913045 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tammy L Anderson (0000-0001-7240-8097, University of Delaware, corresponding author), Holly Swan (0000-0001-8939-2108, University of Delaware), David C Lane (0000-0003-1059-8686, University of Delaware) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 476-494 |
| Publication date | 2010-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociology Compass (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1751-9020 • E-ISSN: 1751-9020 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00292.x |
| OpenAlex | W1898460604 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 37 |
The purpose of this article is to historically review biologically based explanations of drug addiction to demonstrate the increased utility of the institutional fads approach in understanding modern medicalization. Our examination reveals that the medicalization of drug addiction has been long in the making, traveling through numerous fads that have attributed drug addiction to various biological matter, including body type or constitution, genetics, psychopathology, and neuroscience or brain imaging. These explanations follow a common trajectory (emerging, surging, and purging) in institutional fad research. Moreover, our analysis indicates that while scientific and technological developments have shaped these approaches’ influence and pathways, so too have political actors and institutional agendas. We begin by discussing how an institutional fads approach enables an improved understanding of the medicalization of drug addiction – a form of deviance – followed by a critique of four main biological explanations: body constitution, genetics, psychopathology, and brain chemistry/imaging. Our review pinpoints the specific narratives advanced and the academic and political interests at work. In doing so, it exposes the limitations of medicalizing one of the nation’s oldest social problems
Addiction · Constitution · Criminology · Medicalization · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Psychiatry · Psychopathology · Sociology · Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies · Historical and Scientific Studies · Law · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Psychology
The addict and the law.
The Medicalization of Society
The American Disease, Origins Of Narcotic Control
Unequal under Law
The myth of mental illness.
Deviance and medicalization
Outsiders
Crime and the Man
Methods of execution as institutional fads
Fixing broken masculinity
What's in a Disorder
Earnest A. Hooton and the Biological Tradition in American Criminology
Forces of Habit
Biomedicalization
Drug Addiction
Drug Addiction
Going Through the Changes
From Hyperactive Children to ADHD Adults
Fashion in Science
The Shifting Engines of Medicalization
Fashion
Sequencing and Its Consequences
Processing Fads and Fashions
Fashion
The Conceptual History of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Disciplining Addictions
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,57 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2024 (6) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |