The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit
by Bruce Alexander
What Bruce shows is that both the right-wing and left-wing theories of addiction are wrong.
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“He argues that mass addiction is produced by dislocation. When people are suffering, not just from concrete and obvious harms – although those can be relevant, like poverty and oppression and racism – but also dislocation in the sense of anomie, being divorced from traditional sources of meaning and purpose and connection, then that is a major driver of addiction. He uses that in a very effective way to talk about addiction beyond substances. He gives very clear and useful descriptions of how different definitions of addiction might apply to things like gambling (which is a huge problem right now), but also to consumption and environmental degradation. Even though it’s academic, I think people who are interested in the socio-political dimensions of addiction would find it really useful. He’s a good writer.” Read more...
Carl Erik Fisher, Medical Scientist
“What Bruce shows is that both the right-wing and left-wing theories of addiction are wrong.” Read more...
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Johann Hari, Journalist
