How Does one Become a Cannabis Smoker ?

Howard S. Becker’s study of the “career” of marijuana smokers became a reference for later ethnographic studies but has hardly been an inspiration for epidemiologists’ statistical studies. This article aims first to better understand this apparent incompatibility by pointing out the pitfalls epid...

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書誌詳細
第一著者: Peretti-Watel, Patrick
フォーマット: Article ou chapitre numérique
言語:Français
出版事項: 2003
オンライン・アクセス:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
その他の書誌記述
要約:Howard S. Becker’s study of the “career” of marijuana smokers became a reference for later ethnographic studies but has hardly been an inspiration for epidemiologists’ statistical studies. This article aims first to better understand this apparent incompatibility by pointing out the pitfalls epidemiologists are exposed to when they analyze drug use. It then reexamines available data, with the purpose of drawing from Becker’s theses a set of hypotheses that can be statistically validated. Lastly, these hypotheses are validated on the basis of responses to a self-administered questionnaire survey of 12,113 teenage pupils conducted in 1999 in mainland France. The results confirm the relevance of Becker’s sequential approach for cannabis use, since they show that 1) use-related factors, namely type of supply point and use among peers, vary by cannabis consumption level; 2) the neutralization techniques Becker hypothesized may be seen to be operative in respondents’ stated opinions. More generally, the article illustrates the possible complementarity between statistical and ethnographic approaches.