Intoxication

Phil Withington

Chapter 3 in Research Handbook on Drugs and Society, 2026, pp 22-32 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter argues that the concept of ‘intoxication’ offers a way of circumventing the prevailing trend in the social, historical, and natural sciences to regard psychoactive substances and their effects primarily as social and medical problems. It posits instead that to study intoxication is first and foremost to commit to understanding two kinds of human experience: the ‘subjective’ thoughts, perceptions, and feelings associated with individual and collective consumption; and the ‘objective’ roles, identities, and behaviours resulting from the social practices and rituals involving intoxicants. Viewed in these terms, intoxication can be understood as a universal phenomenon that will always vary in the specifics of time, place, and context; which lends itself to micro and macro forms of analysis; and which encourages – indeed requires – interdisciplinary methodologies.

Keywords: Intoxicant; Intoxication; Experience; Subjectivity; Practices; Interdisciplinarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781802209136
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