In six pages this research paper examines drug abuse in a historical overview that considers whether altered consciousness states are needed universally. Six sources are cited in the bibliography.
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London precisely because the future held no prospect more bleak than a wet Sunday afternoon in London (Rundle, 2001, p. 30). One might say that De Quincy was
taking a "functional" approach in the way that he employed the drug to alter his consciousness so that his reality was more acceptable to him. Three basic theoretical perspectives
have been taken toward the problems of drug and alcohol addiction. These are conflict, functional, and symbolic interactionalist theory. However, in order to understand how these theories have been
applied to the topic of drug abuse, it is first necessary to define what these theories encompass. Functionalists recognize that people define
certain actions and certain people as deviant in order to product themselves, give themselves collective identity, and also make themselves feel superior to others (Indiana.edu, 2001).Labeling theorists and interactionists study
the ways in which interactions between agents and victims of social control. Interactionism (a short name for symbolic interactionism) parallels other attempts to apply functionalism to face-to-face interactions. Symbolic
interactionists analyze how people and their values influence one another (Indiana.edu, 2001). Labeling theory is a corollary of interactionalism as labeling theorists sharpen interactionalism by studying how folks "define,
identify, and treat deviants" (Indiana.edu, 2001). Conflict theory and its variants - Marxism/radical sociology/critical theory and feminism-all focus on the relationship between deviance, social control and personal or political power.
They agree that powerful people can call what they do "normal and what their enemies do as "deviant" (Indiana.edu, 2001). The theories differ in the types of power that they
wish to emphasize. In regards to drug abuse, functionalists discuss how drug abuse can have harmful effects on other people beside the abuser, such as drunk drivers, etc. Interactionalists