Synopsis
The Globalisation of Addiction presents a radical rethink about the nature of addiction.
Scientific medicine has failed when it comes to addiction. There are no reliable methods to cure it, prevent it, or take the pain out of it. There is no durable consensus on what addiction is, what causes it, or what should be done about it. Meanwhile, it continues to increase around the world. This book argues that the cause of this failure to control addiction is that the conventional wisdom of the 19th and 20th centuries focused too single-mindedly on the afflicted individual addict. Although addiction obviously manifests itself in individual cases, its prevalence differs dramatically between societies. For example, it can be quite rare in a society for centuries, and then become common when a tribal culture is destroyed or a highly developed civilization collapses. When addiction becomes commonplace in a society, people become addicted not only to alcohol and drugs, but to a thousand other destructive pursuits: money, power, dysfunctional relationships, or video games. A social perspective on addiction does not deny individual differences in vulnerability to addiction, but it removes them from the foreground of attention, because social determinants are more powerful.
This book shows that the social circumstances that spread addiction in a conquered tribe or a falling civilisation are also built into today's globalizing free-market society. A free-market society is magnificently productive, but it subjects people to irresistible pressures towards individualism and competition, tearing rich and poor alike from the close social and spiritual ties that normally constitute humanlife. People adapt to their dislocation by finding the best substitutes for a sustaining social and spiritual life that they can, and addiction serves this function all too well.
The book argues that the most effective response to a growing addiction problem is a social and political one, rather than an individual one. Such a solution would not put the doctors, psychologists, social workers, policemen, and priests out of work, but it would incorporate their practices in a larger social project. The project is to reshape society with enough force and imagination to enable people to find social integration and meaning in everyday life. Then great numbers of them would not need to fill their inner void with addictions.
Doody Review Services
Reviewer:Gary B Kaniuk, Psy.D.(Cermak Health Services)
Description:This book discusses addictive behavior from a social and historical perspective as opposed to focusing on the individual. The author believes that the loss of social and spiritual connections results in lack of meaning in life and ultimately addictive behavior to fill the psychological void.
Purpose:According to the author, "A historical perspective affords an unhurried look at what addiction is, why it has always existed, why it appears to be spinning out of control just now, and what modern society can hope to do about it," adding, "Rather than an individual problem, the historical perspective views addiction as a societal problem.
Audience:Professionals working in the field of addictions, including psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, would benefit greatly from this book. In addition, public policy makers and researchers would find this of interest. The author, a psychologist and professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University in Canada, has researched and published in the field of addictions since 1970.
Features:In the first part of the book, the author strives to define addiction and why it has ballooned all over the world. He says that traditional theories do not address the central problem, namely dislocation or social isolation. The author wonders why civilizations were able to overcome communicable diseases like smallpox but not alcohol and other drugs. He sees that free-market economics creates a breach in social cohesion of society and thus "dislocation or poverty of the spirit" causes addictions and other psychological difficulties. He gives examples in the history of the city of Vancouver, along with Canadian aboriginal peoples and China. The second part of the book describes the effects of dislocation and addiction with various historical examples including Adolf Eichmann, St. Augustine, and the writings of Socrates. There are numerous endnotes following each chapter so that readers can get a better understanding of the material and find sources to further explore. In addition, the author provides 61 pages of references.
Assessment:This fascinating and unique book explores the problem of addiction using a nontraditional approach. The book is replete with lessons from history, both in terms of civilizations and specific individuals. The author's simple message is that mankind has cured various diseases but has not offered any effective solutions to overcoming drug and alcohol addiction. Thus, he introduces dislocation theory as a crucial factor in understanding addiction. His book also expands the definition of addiction, both in terms of positive and negative addictions. In general, it is a refreshing look at an age-old problem.