Much of the epidemiological research conducted on non-medical prescription drug use assumes pharmaceuticals to have fixed, inherent euphorigenic qualities. Quantitative analysis of substance abuse depends on drugs acting predictably. However, this conception of pharmaceuticals has failed to account for the absence of pleasure when prescription drugs are taken as part of corrective or curative regimes. For this thesis I will employ Actor Network Theory (ANT) to explain how a prescription drug can emerge alternately as a substance either amenable to, or unresponsive in, producing pleasure. ANT suggests that the properties attributed to prescription drugs are not deterministic or unimpeachable, but are instead a result of networks of heterogeneous actants. Using interview data collected among young adults about their early non-prescribed pharmaceutical episodes, and comparing these experiences to those of accomplished users, I will illustrate how, during initial periods of transparent indeterminacy, pharmaceutical affects are not discovered, but rather are constructed and enacted through actant relationships.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-05272010-142320 |
| Date | 14 June 2010 |
| Creators | Bundy, Henry Erikson |
| Contributors | Kimber Haddix McKay, Teresa Sobieszczyk, Gilbert Quintero |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-05272010-142320/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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