Addictions

10 Pages 2552 Words

In this research paper I am asked to identify a social problem that is of interest to me.




A social problem refers to a group of people, or a practice, that is considered deviant or contrary to what constitutes a “normal” or “valid” society. It is created with the assumption that the behaviour or group is universally considered problematic, or different from the norms of society. The word “problem” must be placed in context with a dichotomy of non-problem, or “right”. One can not define what is wrong with out having a comparable situation from which to draw conclusions. It is therefore the people within society who wield power who define this problem. They create the discourse of social problems, and then label what they see.

This paper will focus on the social problem, labelled as addictions. I will not focus on any particular type of addiction, but will reference from the two major groups: substance abuse, and behavioural addiction. By referencing several types of addiction, I will establish that addiction stems from more than the current consensus to genetic predisposition.

Recent research on the effects of drugs points us toward the conclusion that addiction is something very different from what we have thought it to be. To begin with, there is no necessary connection between addiction and drugs, or, more especially, the opiates (opium, heroin, and morphine). More precisely, addiction has little to do with what drugs contain, although it has a lot to do with what we think drugs can do to us. People often react physically to a placebo—a chemically neutral substance that is presented as being, say, morphine or some powerful medication—just as though it were the real thing. Psychological studies have shown that the way people react to drugs in general is as much a function of their cultural background, expectations, and emotional involvement in the situation as of the chemistry of the drug.

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