Introduction: Sociology and the Shifting Landscape of Addiction

So much has been written about addiction, one can reasonably ask why we need another volume on the subject now. The pieces gathered here take up a number of current trends that make this exactly the right time to take a fresh look at addiction. These include: debates over the nosology of addiction as part of the revision to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM); the expansion of addiction's meaning and spheres of control beyond alcohol and illicit substances; the rise of neuroscience; the increasing ‘pharmaceuticalization’ of everyday life and new pharmaceutical treatments for addiction; growing awareness about the intersection of the drug war and the mass incarceration of people of color; and new theoretical frameworks for understanding the role of addiction as a fundamental technique of social control. These trends are reshaping addiction in both new and not-so-new ways that warrant the interrogation this volume provides.