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Cultural Ecstasies

Drugs, Gender and the Social Imaginary

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Series: Concepts for Critical Psychology.

In this important contribution to the field, Ilana Mountian critically analyses discourses surrounding drug addiction, drug prohibition, treatment and prevention, and highlights new ways of understanding the role that gender plays in the ethics of drug use across cultures.

The book analyses the discourses of religion, criminality and medicine, and shows how they, combined with key historical events, affect our views of drug use and drug users based on gender, race and class.

The book draws on research from a variety of fields to provide alternative conceptual and methodological perspectives on the subject, including:

  • Critical theory

  • Gender studies

  • Post-colonial studies

  • Psychoanalysis

  • Philosophy

Cultural Ecstasies is an innovative study of drugs and addiction, and will be of great interest to students, researchers and professionals working in psychology, sociology, social work, health care, criminology, and allied disciplines.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Conceptualising the Social Imaginary 2. Historical Discourses of Drugs 3. Discourses of Addiction 4. Drug Use and the Social Imaginary 5. Gender in the Social Imaginary of Drugs 6. Drug Policies.

Author/Editor Biography

Ilana Mountian is an honorary research fellow and a member of the Discourse Unit at the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Her research practice involves the application of inter-disciplinary perspectives, including social theories, gender studies, post-colonial studies and psychoanalysis, to the study of drug use, immigration and gender.