The Life of a Drug Addict in Anthropological Perspective - Essay Example

Anthropology: Discussing The Face of Social Suffering: The Life History of a Street Drug Addict The purpose of this essay will be to discuss The Face of Social Suffering by Merrill Singer from an anthropological perspective. Some background on the author will be discussed as well as some perspectives on the issues discussed in his book. The main focus, however, will be to discuss the book itself and discuss the type of society that it illustrates. Merrill Singer is what is known as a medical anthropologist. He acts as the Director of the Center for Community Health Research at the Hispanic Health Council. He has conducted a great deal of important and groundbreaking research in the area of HIV/AIDS and substance abuse. He is also responsible for the naming and studying of certain public health concepts such as syndemics. Syndemics deals specifically with the social ramifications of diseases which spread within specific populations. Dr. Singer also works at the Center for Health at the University of Connecticut. In writing his book The Face of Social Suffering: The Life History of a Street Drug Addict, Merrill Singer assumes that individuals that are products of unstable and abusive family environments often turn to a life of drug abuse and criminal activity. Also, low education completion level and being of low income bracket can also lead to this dangerous and unhealthy lifestyle. Essentially, the problem that is presented in this book is that Tony, the individual who is written about in this book, has come from an abusive family background. He is accustomed to a lifestyle of poverty, neglect, abuse, and the like. Also racism plays an important part in the shaping of individuals like Tony, according to Singer. It is also poor social policies which specifically pertain to public health that contribute to this type of lifestyle as well as poor educational opportunities and a weak criminal justice system. In addition, Singer points out that one’s environment and social influences are greatly responsible for one’s position in life, specifically Tony‘s: “the thoughts, feelings, and life experiences of a single individual; the social milieu of family gang, prison, and inner-city street that have formed the primary stages of his tumultuous and other relations that have helped to construct and sustain those stages” (2005:144). The main purpose of this ethnography is to detail the life of one single individual (Tony), and to show not only what it is like to live in Tony’s world, but to illustrate the factors that have led to the shaping of that world. Singer focuses quite a bit on the fact that social exclusion and racism have played just as important a role in Tony’s life as have his family life, exposure to the drug world, lack of opportunity, and his exposure and contraction of HIV and Hepatitis. All of these factors have worked together to shape many of Tony’s thoughts, feelings and responses in life. Singer seeks to not only study Tony’s situation and document it but also seeks to inform his readers of the many challenges that Tony is faced with and the lack of opportunity or even positive circumstances that he lives with each day. Tony’s life is not unlike many other individuals that we see in the newspapers or on the news everyday. We read reports of individuals being arrested for drug possession, or murdered in gang violence, or a drug deal gone bad. It is not often, however, that we are able to closely look at and understand the everyday life and social aspects of these individuals. The main informants in this piece are of course Merrill Singer and Tony, who is essentially Singer’s case study. Singer is assembling facts about Tony’s life as a drug user and drug addict in order to anthropologically evaluate and assess Tony’s life conditions so that these conditions and the events that led to them can be better understood in society. Once these conditions and circumstances are understood, individuals like Tony may have greater opportunity and resources offered to them. The means by which Singer obtains the information is through seven years of interviews with Tony. Singer and Tony were introduced when Tony became a volunteer test subject at a research facility involving HIV/AIDS where Singer was the director. The beginning of the book details a meeting between Tony and Singer. During this meeting Tony is literally injecting heroine. Tony is a heroine addict and came from a family where his father was addicted to morphine. Heroine of course is a morphine derivative and extremely addictive. During this interview, Singer noted the filth and poor lighting of the setting in which Tony was residing. Singer delves into Tony’s past to uncover some of the circumstances that have possibly contributed to his current situation in life. As earlier stated, Tony had a father who not only was a drug addict but was involved in an Irish gang. Tony was constantly exposed at a young age to a life of violence, gangs, drug addiction, and abusive/neglectful circumstances. Tony was actually introduced to drugs by his own father, not only the taking of street drugs but also selling and dealing. Singer Tells his readers that he and his readers are looking through “a window on the shadowy, hidden side of modern urban life” (2005:6). Obviously, Singer is conducting this research to educate and inform his readers. He is in no way condoning the illegal and unhealthy behaviors of Tony, but yet he is sympathizing with Tony’s poor life circumstances from childhood to present: “we fail to recognize working-class drug addicts and their street suppliers as casualties rather than causes of urban decay . . . use them as scapegoats, blaming them for why our homes, our streets, our communities, and—with the alleged terror drug connection—our country are unsafe” (2005:61). Tony was a high school drop out and spent time in juvenile hall before he was 16 years of age. Unfortunately, this type of early delinquent behavior only serves in many ways to set a precedence for later offenses. Tony later spent seven years time in prison for a rather serious offense. In prison, one would assume that Tony would receive help and rehabilitation, specifically for his drug addiction. The time Tony spent in prison was really no different than his street life as he had easy access to heroine and continued with his addiction and violent behavior. Once he was released from prison, he resumed his daily activities involving drug use and dealing as well as gang related activity. Job preparation and training as well as some type of drug rehabilitation would have possibly given Tony the help and incentive that he needed to turn his life around. His prison experience is a portrait, however, of the poor state of the prison system in America. Tony is essentially playing the real life role of a drug addict, drug dealer, repeat offender, and common street thug who is stereotyped and feared. Certainly, if Singer had not used a specific individual to study for the purposes of this book, then he would have simply been writing about a stereotype. The fact that he used a real and specific individual creates a sense of closeness to the problem for the reader. It also allows the reader to sympathize with Tony the person and not simply judge the possible idea or stereotype of someone like Tony. I would describe the society in which Tony is a part of and Singer is studying as oppressive in almost every way. Tony is living in an environment where he has little to no opportunity; he is addicted to drugs and has a criminal record and no education. He is most likely not going to be able to attain and keep any type of real job. He is emotionally damaged from being abused as a child and teen and is certainly not in an environment that nurtures positive or healthy feelings. His way of life is one of violence, addiction, poverty, social exclusion, and so on. He is HIV positive and Hepatitis positive, and therefore a danger to others; certainly as his immune system deteriorates, he is also a danger to himself. His living conditions are in no way conducive to being HIV positive but living a healthy lifestyle to sustain life for as long as possible. The society that is synonymous with Tony’s lifestyle is truly rock bottom. Tony and those around him survive from gang activities and drug sales, although by the end of the book we find that Tony has discontinued his gang involvement after losing multiple acquaintances and friends to gang violence This society is one of constant danger and threat of being murdered, physically attacked, overdosing, communicable disease, poor nutrition and many other major health risks as well as social inequalities. Singer notes in the book that Tony has been through many romantic relationships but has not really been entirely successful as his drug addiction has gotten in the way. Also, when one is HIV and hepatitis positive, romantic relationships are difficult. The end of the book also indicates that Tony recognizes how dangerous and unhealthy his life in fact is: “I am at a crossroads in my life . . . I don’t wanna die”(2005:127). Singer concludes this book with an informative narrative on how IV drug users and unprotected sex can lead to the spread of dangerous communicable diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis. Also, Singer allows Tony to share his plans for rehabilitation and life changes that will positively change his lifestyle. Throughout the book, Singer includes some extremely informative background on drug addiction, specifically the history of morphine and heroine. He also focuses on the problematic “war on drugs”, which has simply flooded the prison systems with over population. In addition, gang activity and drug addiction still prevail within the prison system itself only aiding in the overall problem. Another aspect that Singer emphasizes is that overall society is stereotyping individuals who use drugs: “demonization, stigmatization, and blaming the victim are part of the problem and not part of the solution”(2005:55). In conclusion to the overall book and what it teaches, it is quite informative and serves its purpose to educate. It is sobering to read about the real life of an individual submersed in this lifestyle and society. It is an interesting stance that Singer takes, the stance of sympathizing with this individual and not judging or finger pointing. Singer takes so many aspects of Tony’s existence into consideration as well as Tony’s past. It is not Tony’s fault that he was abused and neglected as a child. Nor is it his fault that he was taught by his own father to inject drugs and later to sell drugs. Tony is lucky to have not been killed by now, through prison incident or gang violence, but he bares the scares of his lifestyle with his drug addiction and the fact that he is HIV and Hepatitis positive. Truly, Singer seeks to examine this society as well as society as a whole for the causes of individuals to be stuck in a lifestyle such as Tony’s. He in part, blames government policies and the drug war for much of the aftermath suffered by individuals like Toney. It is evident, that until societies can better integrate through education, positive recourses and improved policies, individuals like Tony will continue to suffer and live a lifestyle that many only see on television or in the news. References Cited: Robbins, Richard A., Larkin, Sherrie, N. 2007 Cultural Anthropology: A Problem Based Approach. First Canadian Edition. Toronto: Nelson. Singer PhD, Merrill 2005 The Face of Social Suffering: The life History of a Street Drug Addict. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press. Read More