This essay critically explores how the Medicalization of Marijuana is transforming the conduct of individuals and social worlds in contemporary North America, and argues that marijuana is being deregulated for capital gain in which the state is gaining a potent form of social control.
Social control will be used as the power to have a particular set of definitions of the world realized in both spirit (laws, moral codes, customs, habits) and through conduct. This RQ shows the structure/agency debate that sociologist Alan Dawe (1970) refers to this dualism as the ‘two sociologies’. That is one concerned with structure and structural constraint the other with individual action and agency.
Table of Contents
1. How will the Medicalization of Marijuana affect the conduct of individuals in contemporary North America?
Objective and Research Focus
This essay examines how the medicalization of marijuana transforms individual conduct and social structures in contemporary North America, arguing that this process serves as a mechanism for state-led social control and capital gain within a neoliberal framework.
- The structure-agency debate in contemporary sociology.
- Neoliberal governmentality and the "conduct of conduct."
- The transition of marijuana users from deviant subjects to medical patients.
- Theoretical application of Actor-Network Theory (ANT), Foucault’s power dynamics, and Bourdieu’s habitus.
Excerpt from the Book
How will the Medicalization of Marijuana affect the conduct of individuals in contemporary North America?
This essay critically explores how the Medicalization of Marijuana (to make medical) is transforming the conduct of individuals and social worlds in contemporary N. America, and argues that marijuana is being deregulated for capital gain in which the state is gaining a potent form of social control (Conrad & Schneider, 1980). Social control will be used as the power to have a particular set of definitions of the world realized in both spirit (laws, moral codes, customs, habits) and through conduct (Conrad & Schneider, 1980). This RQ shows the structure/agency debate that sociologist Alan Dawe (1970) cited in (du Gay & McFall, 2008, p.4) refers to this dualism as the ‘two sociologies’. That is one concerned with structure and structural constraint the other with individual action and agency. Structural theories start with the premise that the society is outside of the individual, whilst action-agency theories start with the premise that individuals are free autonomous beings.
Summary of Chapters
How will the Medicalization of Marijuana affect the conduct of individuals in contemporary North America?: This chapter provides a critical analysis of the sociological implications of marijuana medicalization, evaluating how it shifts social control and shapes individual behavior through neoliberal structures and the creation of the "patient" identity.
Keywords
Medicalization, Marijuana, Neoliberalism, Social Control, Agency, Structure, Governmentality, Conduct, Habitus, Actor-Network Theory, Deviance, Bio-power, Patient, Capital Gain, North America
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this paper?
The paper explores the sociological shift in how marijuana use is defined in North America, moving from a framework of criminal deviance to one of medicalization, and how this impacts individual behavior and state power.
What are the primary thematic areas?
The themes include the relationship between state-level drug policy, neoliberal economic motives, the construction of social identity, and the exercise of soft power over citizens.
What is the main research question?
The central question is how the medicalization of marijuana affects the conduct of individuals in contemporary North America and whether this process represents a new form of social control.
Which scientific methodologies are utilized?
The essay employs a theoretical approach, synthesizing concepts from Foucault (governmentality and power), Bourdieu (habitus), and Callon/Latour (Actor-Network Theory) alongside a review of empirical research regarding drug policies and social behavior.
What topics are covered in the main section?
The main sections analyze the "conduct of conduct," the role of medical dispensaries as socio-technical arrangements (agencements), the influence of class-based habitus on behavior, and the critique of the neoliberal individual as a "patient."
Which keywords best describe this study?
Medicalization, Neoliberalism, Social Control, Agency, Governmentality, and Habitus are the most significant terms used throughout the study.
How does the author define the "patient" in the context of marijuana?
The author argues that the "patient" is not a pre-existing identity but is socially constructed through legal-medical frameworks, transforming a previously "deviant" user into a disciplined, tax-paying consumer.
What role does neoliberalism play in the author's argument?
Neoliberalism is presented as the overarching ideology that facilitates the deregulation of marijuana for capital gain, allowing the state to maintain control while obscuring deeper structural inequalities like poverty and race.
- Citation du texte
- Martine Quinn (Auteur), 2016, The medicalisation of Marijuana. How will it affect the conduct of individuals in North America?, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/345183
