Substance Use and Abuse, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Substance use and abuse in the entertainment industry is a weighty issue that has been a subject of discussion for a long time. This is because it affects quite many people both directly and indirectly. Substance use can be defined as the normal usage of substances (e.g. drugs and alcohol) by an individual(s) as a form of entertainment or medication. Thus substance use is just normal and legal practice in many countries.

On the other hand substance abuse is the maladaptive use of a substance in amounts or manner that is not allowed medically. Thus substance use is both illegal and condoned in the medical profession and society in general. Substances that can be abused range from simple and common medicinal drugs like painkillers to alcohol to the hard drugs like cocaine and marijuana. The hard drugs are illegal in most countries and have severe penalties including capital punishment! Thus this is such a serious offense.

Substance abuse occurs or takes place virtually everywhere but there is no place that it is more common than in entertainment places like bars, night clubs, restaurants among others. Many theories and reasons have been advanced in an attempt to describe this phenomenal. Many authors, scholars and psychologists have written extensively in this field all in their attempt to unravel this scenario. However, despite all this efforts substance use and abuse remains one most challenging issue world over. One of the most outstanding scholars in this work is professor Victor Shaw. It is his work “Substance use and abuse sociological perspectives” that am going to review mostly.

I would also like to point from the onset that I am going to use the subcultural perspective and its theories in my attempt to explain this phenomenal. This is because among all the theories that have been advanced to explain why there seems to be wide spread substance use and abuse in the entertainment industry, this remains the most relevant. I will do this by examining this theory and perspective step by step.

Literature review

As pointed out earlier, many scholars have written a lot in this field thus it is not such a ne w topic. In my work am going to review the works of two or three authors who have written extensively in this subject. They include California state university Northridge professor victor Shaw, Fischer, Claude and Patrick Williams. All authors have written extensively on many topics in sociology, psychology and criminology but for this research am going to focus on what each has to say on this pressing issue. That is Substance Use and Abuse in the Entertainment Industry: A Subcultural Perspective.

Writing on this topic Claude (1995) points out that subcultures have a great impact on society and thus should not be ignored. He says sub cultural theories owe much of their work to centre for contemporary cultural studies in the 1980s at the sociologists of the Chicago University. Currently there are three main theories used by sociologists to explain why subcultures have such great impact on the society. These are the Marxist perspective, functionality perspective and post modern perspective. In general these theories avail sociologist with theoretical paradigms in their attempt to explain how people influence society and also how society influences people.

Claude goes ahead to point out that functionalism perspective is the earliest and still the most common that is under use even today. This theory holds that society is a structure with many functions that act interdependently towards achieving a common goal. These functions include government, businesses, social l institutions like schools and churches and most importantly individuals. For the society to function well each function is expected to play its part well otherwise a disequilibrium will occur and this will bring about instability. If there is instability a new equilibrium must be found and this may mean some undesirable occurrences in the society like crime rise, unemployment etc. Additionally the Marxist theory believes in social classes i.e. workers and the capitalists. Capitalists hold and control the economic systems of a society. Due to this they are able to employ and exploit the workers to their own advantage. Its origin is from Karl Max’s early writings on class struggles. After some time the workers will realize that they are being exploited and overthrow the capitalists so that they can communally own the resources. These results into what we commonly refer to as social revolution. Finally Claude talks of the post modern perspective of subcultures. This theory tries to undermine the two earlier versions of subcultural theory. It holds that social behavior is no longer pegged on class, gender, ethnicity among others variables but purely on lifestyle choice. Thus an individual behaves in a particular manner because that is the way he feels is right for him or because he has copied it from an influential individual.

The California state university Northridge professor victor Shaw has also written a lot in this topic. In his book “Substance use and abuse sociological perspectives”, Professor Victor has written a lot in this topic. He has explored it from many perspectives including but not limited to Anomie, career, conflict, functional, social control, social learning and most importantly from subculture perspectives. It is the subculture perspective that I am going to explore more in this work. Shaw holds that our society can be compared to a gathering place. So each one of us will try and gather to the subculture that most suits his interests. This may include similarities in identity; belief, interests, background and etc. therefore a subculture like substance use and abuse can arise in a society out of such aggregate like identity, value or interests. Over time this groups and grouping may develop into fully fledged subcultures. These two authors remain very inspirational as far as this field is concerned.

It is also important to note that this is a very touching topic and as such much has been studied and researched on extensively. Hence, there is little that remains to be studied in this regard. However this not withstanding there is small room to add on what has already been done or better still challenge the status quo. For instance some research needs to be done on correlation between substance use and abuse across subcultures and cultures.

Theoretical image

Substance use and abuse in the entertainment industry, is a touching topic to the society in general and to the young people in particular. This is because it is the young people who are easily lured into other habits that they are not accustomed to for various reasons. The entertainment industry is on the spotlight because it is the one that has such a great influence among the youth. Many questions have been advanced as to why entertainment industry seems to be the one most hit by this issue of substance use. On the same note many authors have tried to answer this question and even though it they have partly explained this case, none seems to give a conclusive answer.

One of the major reasons advanced for this phenomenal is the fact that individuals want to identify with the celebrities they see in the mass media. Celebrities have such great influence on the people because of their music, lifestyle and even personality. Therefore an individual may tend to think that whatever the celebrities are seen doing or practicing is cool and thus there is no problem by also engaging in it. Another reason can be poor parenting coupled with wide spread use of mass media. Parents have too much on their hands that they give very little attention to their children, thus they turn to the next available source of information which is school and mass media. Weaker societal norms can also be blamed for this scenario whereby it makes it possible to access substance easy and within reach of many people including minors. It is not uncommon for instance to see adults drinking or smoking openly in front of children. Thus there is influence from seniors to juniors’. Junior people look upon adults to give them direction and thus there is no room for doubting them (Shaw, 229).

Theoretical components

In this part am going to explore more on the various aspects of substance use and abuse. This will range from the causes of substance use, the process of transmitting substance use and finally the consequences of persistence use of substance abuse. To make it clearer I will also make use of subcultural perspectives to explain this phenomenal.

Causes of substance use and abuse

There are many reasons that have been put forward attempting to explain this case. Many authors and researchers have also written a lot about it. Even though some disparities are exhibited on what exactly has led to the wide spread of substance use especially among young people, some common agreements can be seen. This includes:

• Low self esteem
• Curiosity
• Tolerance
• Hereditary
• Changed motives
• Stress management
• Peer pressure

This list may not necessary be exhaustive enough but at least it covers the major causes of substance abuse. Starting with low self esteem is when an individual thinks that by engaging in substance abuse he /she will gain acceptance among peers. Thus an individual is tempted to engage in such bad behaviors. This is more so crucial among the youth who may seek to substance use after they have been rejected within their social groups. They feel worthless and inferior and as a result engage in substance use. Secondly curiosty has been cited as another reason that may drive individuals to engage in substance use. This coupled with the influence from the mass media make people want to try and experience on first hand as to how or what is it that those who use the substances feel. For instance a youth that is watching music on TV and sees celebrities enjoying smoking may e curious to also do the same. This is because he is still young and inexperienced and tries to imitate what other people are doing. What may be oblivious of such youth is that some of those people are trying hard day and night to quit their habits!

Tolerance is yet another reason that has been advanced to explain why individuals engage in substance use. This is more common to habitual users of the substance. Most of the substances have the effect of stimulating individuals in certain manner and hence whenever the level of the substance has gone down in their systems they are forced to use more of the same substance so to feel normal again. This is the staring point of being addicted to drugs. Therefore some individuals use substances not because they like it but because they can’t function normally without the influence of such substances. In addition some psychologists and social scientists have linked the possible use of substances to hereditary factors. This, they argue, explains why there is a tendency of children born to alcoholic parents to also grow up to be the same. This is because if you grew up and there is no ingle day you saw your father sober, you might be tempted to believe that that is the right thing to do (Williams, 172).

In another instance an individual may be initiated to a drug for innocent reasons like medication or to treat a certain condition. This then becomes a habit and instead of using the substance for its rightful intended purpose he abuses it. Thus resulting to substance abuse. This is what we refer to as changed motives as a cause for substance abuse. On the same note individuals have been known to abuse substances as a way to manage their stress. This may be family or work related issues. As whether it is genuine reason or not remains debatable. It is not uncommon to see an adult man drink himself silly till he is unable to hold himself. When you get the reason behind it don’t be surprised to hear it is because the wife has left him!

Lastly peer pressure has been advanced as another reason why there is wide spread use of substances. This is partially supported by the Marxist theory of subcultural perspectives. Society is seen as a grouping of individuals; hence if in order to identify with a certain group you should for instance smoke, then you have no alternative. The peer pressure may be so intense that you are forced to engage in activities that you never expected you will do. Perhaps this also explains why there is close relation among substance abusers (Williams, 177).

The process of transmitting substance use

There are several ways in which substance use can be transmitted from one person to another. This is more so true given the fact that no man is an island. We live in a common society whereby sharing of values from one individual to the other is quite common and normal. According to Shaw (230) one of the major methods that substance use is transmitted from one person to another is social groupings. Subcutural theories hold that individuals can only be in a group if they share some aggregates like identity, values, practice or interests. Thus if in a group majority of the members are alcoholic, then there is high probability that they will pass on this habit to the rest of the group members. On the same note substance use can be passed from seniors to their juniors. This is because junior people tend to look upon their seniors as role models. Hence, whatever they do may appear as appealing to them hence the transmission.

Another common process that substance use is transmitted is through use of mass media in the entertainment industry. Due to easy access the people have to media like television and radio, there is likelihood that they will copy what they see on them. This is because if those people calling themselves celebrities are openly glorifying use of substance in the media, what amount of convincing will be required for you to convince a young person that it is wrong? Surely it is a very difficult and hectic task. Some people even tend to think that it is the substance abuse that makes such people celebrities!

Consequences of substance use

These are just self explanatory. A close look at individuals and societies that use substances can give you a clear picture of the devastating effects of substance use and abuse. These ranges from the effects on the individual himself, close family, the society and finally the nation at large. For instance a young person who has just graduated from college and starts engaging in substance abuse may end up being useless not only to himself but to the society and nation at large for the vast amounts of resources that have been used to educate such an individual. In order to simplify this, I will subdivide into three categories. These are consequences of substance use to:

• An individual
• Family and
• Society

The immediate effects of a substance use can only be felt by the individual abusing it. The effects also greatly depend on the type of substance being abused, the frequency and period in which the person has used it. For simple substances like stimulants and alcohol the consequences is impaired decision making and possible loss of control for one self. However the effects may reverse when the body is out of the influence of the substance. For the hard drugs like cocaine and marijuana the effects are even worse. These may range from fatigue, anxiety, depression to temporal or permanent mental fitness. Additionally due to impaired judgment, substance users may be exposed to other risks like irresponsible sex behavior and even drunken driving.

Turning to the family, the consequences may be indirect but they are equally far reaching. For instance the substance user may channel fund meant for family upkeep to his drinking sprees with friends. The family may also incur huge expenses in their attempt to treat or rehabilitate the substance user. It can also disrupt an individual’s performance both at work and at home. This may lead to family break ups and job losses (Shaw, 232).

The society is also affected by the habits of the substance user. For instance the person may pass on his habits to other members of the society, or if he dies it may force the society to take over the responsibilities that were to be carried on by this individual, thus straining the society that is already overburdened.

Policy implications

Whereas we cant cite lack of policies as the driving force behind substance abuse, there is a room it can play to reduce this issue. For instance they can prohibit showing of videos that glorify substance use in the mass media. Another issue is to come up with sound policies that curb use of drugs right from the family level up to national level. There is also need to come up with policies that address reasons behind young people’s engagement in substance I the first place. That is to say we should treat the causes not the symptoms. For instance issues to do with poverty, unemployment and poor parenting.

Conclusion

Substance Use and Abuse in the Entertainment Industry was, is and will remain a big challenge to societies and nations at large. There is need for all stakeholders to come together and address this issue before it is too late. This s the only way we can manage to bring up a society of decent and responsible citizens as opposed to wrecks of young individuals who have lost sense of direction. There is no need to point an accusing finger to any single individual, what is needed is for all of us to play our roles well and the rest will be ok.

Works cited

Fischer, Claude (1995). “The Subcultural Theory of Urbanism: A Twentieth Year Assessment”. American Journal of Sociology 101 (3): 543–577.

Patrick J. Williams (2011). Subcultural theory: traditions and concepts. Polity press, 65 Bridge streets, Cambridge UK.

Victor N. Shaw. 2002. Substance Use and Abuse: Sociological Perspectives. Westport and London: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Victor N. Shaw. 2009. Review of “Crime, Social Control, and Human Rights: From Moral Panics to State of Denial.” International Journal of Justice Review 19.2: 226-227.