Sociology 3321F/G Lecture Notes - Symbolic Interactionism, Methylphenidate, Diazepam
1 Feb 2013
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Theoretical approaches to drugs: the structural-functionalist perspective examines the role drugs play in the maintenance of order and stability in a society. Throughout the history of the u. s. , officials have acted to outlaw the drugs favored by powerless people, especially racial minorities and immigrants. For example, in the mid-nineteenth century, whites on the. West coast outlawed the opium used mainly by chinese immigrants; about 1900, southern whites who feared black violence pressed to outlaw cocaine; by 1920, the tide of european immigration led to. Prohibition, which banned alcohol; and a decade later, rising immigration from mexico prompted a legal ban on marijuana. From this perspective, a drug that is defined by one group as part of a religious ceremony may be considered dangerous by another group. Also, a drug may be legal at one point in time, and outlawed later on (e. g. , cocaine in the united states). Alternatively, a drug once outlawed may become legal (e. g. , cannabis in the netherlands).
