Constructing the Social Problem

Essay from the year 2010 in the subject History of Europe - Ages of World Wars grade: A- University CEU San Pablo Madrid language: English abstract: In the last two decades there seems to be a consensus between Russian physicians sociologists and the general public that drug addiction should be considered a serious and threatening social problem. The authorities however are unable to stop the increasing numbers of drug users. Meanwhile as Ia. I. Gilinskii put it social deviations are the mirror of social realities and the power structure should not avoid looking in it. Drug addiction became a major social problem for which no one-sided solution is acceptable. The attempts to approach the topic from the narrow viewpoint of some sociological or medical theory usually fail - as do the methods of plain administrative repression. The terms narkotik narkoman narkomaniia narkotizm are applied in a somewhat simplified manner (as an unambiguous social evil) and it further complicates the understanding of an already difficult phenomenon. There is also a clear lack of attention towards social psychological economic and other incentives for an individual to take drugs.Therefore the need for a more synthetic and complex approach is obvious and in search for it we should also look at the developments in the past and the history of drug addiction in Russia.The focus of this paper is on the early Soviet period of Russian history (ca. 1917-1929) and on the medical texts of that period. My aim will be to look at early Soviet medical texts related to recreational drugs to show how physicians described the causes of drug addiction - and thus contributed to the construction of the social problem. The causes of the problem are especially important and relevant for the medical discourse as the etiology of disease often gives physicians the clue to the solutions and treatment. Accordingly the origins of drug addiction as described in early Soviet medical texts g