Synthetic Panics: The Symbolic Politics of Designer Drugs - Softcover

Jenkins, Philip

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814742440 ISBN 13: 9780814742440

Publisher: NYU Press, 1999

Synopsis

America has a long history of drug panics in which countless social problems have been blamed on the devastating effects of some harmful substance. In the last forty years, such panics have often focused on synthetic or designer drugs, like methamphetamine, PCP, Ecstasy, methcathinone, and rave drugs like ketamine, and GHB. Fear of these substances has provided critical justification for the continuing "war on drugs."
Synthetic Panics traces the history of these anti-drug movements, demonstrating that designer chemicals inspire so much fear not because they are uniquely dangerous, but because they bring into focus deeply rooted public concerns about social and cultural upheaval. Jenkins highlights the role of the mass media in spreading anti-drug hysteria and shows how proponents of the war on drugs use synthetic panics to scapegoat society's "others" and exacerbate racial, class, and intergenerational conflict.

About this title

About the Author

Philip Jenkins is Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of numerous books including Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in America and Synthetic Panics: The Symbolic Politics of Designer Drugs, available from NYU Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814742440
• ISBN 13: 9780814742440
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248