Crime, Drugs and Social Theory: A Phenomenological Approach

Do criminal cultures lead to drug use? This book examines the nature and extent of the relationship between urban deprivation, drug misuse and crime. Its purpose is to establish a causal link between drugs and crime that can be used to justify a policy approach towards drug users that is ultimately coercive. Adopting an innovative phenomenological perspective to explore this relationship - the author explores how people develop natural attitudes towards what goes on in the social worlds they inhabit and the type of circumstances in which people deviate from their 'natural attitude' and their resistance to involvement in 'what goes on'. The book synthesizes and adds to existing knowledge about this relationship and helps to explain the limitations of current policies to tackle the links between these areas. It will be of interest to academics and students in criminology, urban studies, social theory and social policy more generally.