Becoming a Marihuana User - Couverture souple

Becker, Howard S.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 022633290X ISBN 13 : 9780226332901

Editeur : University of Chicago Press, 2015

Synopsis

OG Kush. Sour Diesel. Wax, shatter, and vapes. Marijuana has come a long way since its seedy days in the back parking lots of our culture. So has Howard S. Becker, the eminent sociologist, jazz musician, expert on "deviant" culture, and founding NORML board member. When he published Becoming a Marihuana User more than sixty years ago, hardly anyone paid attention--because few people smoked pot. Decades of Cheech and Chong films, Grateful Dead shows, and Cannabis Cups later, and it's clear--marijuana isn't just an established commodity, it's an entire culture. And that's just the thing--Becker totally called it: pot has everything to do with culture. It's not a blight on culture, but a culture itself--in fact, you'll see in this book the first use of the term "users," rather than "abusers" or "addicts." Come along on this short little study--now a famous timestamp in weed studies--and you will be astonished at how relevant it is to us today.

Becker doesn't judge, but neither does he holler for legalization, tell you how to grow it in a hollowed-out dresser, or anything else like that for which there are plenty of other books you can buy. Instead, he looks at marijuana with a clear sociological lens--as a substance that some people enjoy, and that some others have decided none of us should. From there he asks: so how do people decide to get high, and what kind of experience do they have as a result of being part of the marijuana world? What he discovers will bother some, especially those who proselytize the irrefutably stunning effects of the latest strain: chemistry isn't everything--the important thing about pot is how we interact with it. We learn to be high. We learn to like it. And from there, we teach others, passing the pipe in a circle that begins to resemble a bona fide community, defined by shared norms, values, and definitions just like any other community.

All throughout this book, you'll see the intimate moments when this transformation takes place. You'll see people doing it for the first time and those with considerable experience. You'll see the early signs of the truths that have come to define the marijuana experience: that you probably won't get high at first, that you have to hold the hit in, and that there are other people here who are going to smoke that, too.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Howard S. Becker (1928-2023) made major contributions to the sociology of deviance, sociology of art, and sociology of music. He received a PhD from the University of Chicago, where he was also an instructor in sociology and social sciences. He was professor of sociology at Northwestern University for twenty-five years and later became a professor of sociology and an adjunct professor of music at the University of Washington. He lived and worked in San Francisco and Paris.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University of Chicago Press
• Date d'édition: 2015
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 022633290X
• ISBN 13: 9780226332901
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 88
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible