KRIM4962 ¨C The Sociology of Legal and Illegal Drug Use

Course content

The course provides a basic introduction to sociological studies of legal and illegal drug use. Readings emphasize classics such as Goffman, Becker, Collins, Bourdieu and Latour, and show how these theories have been integrated in contemporary empirical research, in Norway and internationally. Topics include detailed studies of particular drugs (e.g. cannabis, MDMA, heroin, alcohol, tobacco) as well as studies of the formal and informal control of drug use and different treatment practices. It also discusses the phenomenological and philosophical background of concepts such as intoxication and addiction.

Learning outcome

Knowledge,?at the end of the course, you will have obtained knowledge of the most central questions and positions in contemporary sociological debates about legal and illegal drug use and have received thorough understanding of the following:

• What characterizes cannabis use, cannabis culture, and cannabis markets?
• What is the social meaning of getting high, and what cultural practices are associated with alcohol and other drugs?
• What is the sociological approach to or understanding of addiction?
• How has the social understanding and stigma of tobacco changed and what consequences does the increasing delegalization have?
• What characterizes drug use in club setting and how is both legal and illegal drug use gendered?
• How is drug use controlled formally and informally?
• How is drug use treated, for example in prison, and what is the difference between zero tolerance approaches and harm reduction?

Skills, at the end of the course, students will have:

• learned to interpret, analyze and critically discuss scholarly texts with a view to their possible implications for social and political practices in the drug field;
• learned the basis of and be able to reflect upon basic themes, problematics and dilemmas in academic, public and policy debates concerning legal and illegal drugs.

• be able to apply the learned contents to assess the tendencies of future developments in the drug field.

• be able to think creatively about case studies on legal and illegal drugs, suggest and develop relevant example research questions and projects.

Competences, at the end of the course, students will:

• enhance their capability to question and discuss urgent and sensitive aspects of contemporary drug phenomena and policy realities through the lenses of sociological theory.
• enhance their capability to formulate and reflect on their own ideas of the individual and societal causes of drug use, their possible harm, and solutions to the "drug problem".

• have deepened their knowledge about analytic