Drugs in Adolescent Worlds: Burnouts to Straights - Softcover

Barry Glassner is the author of the national bestseller "The Culture of Fear". He is a professor of sociology at USC, and he lives in Los Angeles.

The first chapter compares epidemiological, political, and social explanations of adolescent drug use. The remainder of the book relies on participant-observation and in-depth interviewing to decribe the "social worlds" of adolescent users and nonusers. The intent is to understand drug use not as deviance but as an aspect of social interaction. There is very heavy reliance upon excerpts from interviews with 100 teenagers. Fewer excerpts and one more good chapter of theoretical explanation would be helpful, but as it stands the book provides an interesting descripton of drug use from the points of view of young users and non-uers. For serious students of adolescent drug use. John Broderick, Sociology Dept., Stonehill Coll., North Easton, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.