‘Chemical jail’: culture-centered theorizing of carcerality in methadone maintenance treatment and addiction recovery in the United States

IF 1.6 2区文学 Q2 COMMUNICATION

Journal of Applied Communication Research Pub Date : 2023-02-23 DOI:10.1080/00909882.2023.2180770

B. Stanley, A. Basu

{"title":"‘Chemical jail’: culture-centered theorizing of carcerality in methadone maintenance treatment and addiction recovery in the United States","authors":"B. Stanley, A. Basu","doi":"10.1080/00909882.2023.2180770","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study draws from qualitative interviews with eight adults living in the United States using methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) to recover from opioid addiction and dependence. While MMT can enhance the health and lives of methadone recipients, in this study we argue how MMT relies on carceral discourses of surveillance, discipline, and regulation to contain and control addicted bodies to secure whiteness. Using the culture-centered approach to health, our analysis revealed primary themes that demonstrate the interplay of carcerality and medicalization in MMT: (a) stigma, surveillance, and social control; (b) dualities of freedom and health; and (c) agency and resistance. These findings demonstrate the underlying assumptions of whiteness undergirding MMT as a dominant health regime for addiction treatment and how recipients resist carceral discourses of MMT. Ultimately, we call for communication theorizing and practice to advance a relational means of health that rejects the expansion of the prison industrial complex.","PeriodicalId":47570,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Communication Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Applied Communication Research","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2023.2180770","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study draws from qualitative interviews with eight adults living in the United States using methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) to recover from opioid addiction and dependence. While MMT can enhance the health and lives of methadone recipients, in this study we argue how MMT relies on carceral discourses of surveillance, discipline, and regulation to contain and control addicted bodies to secure whiteness. Using the culture-centered approach to health, our analysis revealed primary themes that demonstrate the interplay of carcerality and medicalization in MMT: (a) stigma, surveillance, and social control; (b) dualities of freedom and health; and (c) agency and resistance. These findings demonstrate the underlying assumptions of whiteness undergirding MMT as a dominant health regime for addiction treatment and how recipients resist carceral discourses of MMT. Ultimately, we call for communication theorizing and practice to advance a relational means of health that rejects the expansion of the prison industrial complex.

查看原文本刊更多论文

“化学监狱”:美国美沙酮维持治疗和成瘾康复中以文化为中心的凶残性理论

本研究通过对8名使用美沙酮维持治疗(MMT)从阿片类药物成瘾和依赖中恢复的美国成年人进行定性访谈。虽然MMT可以改善美沙酮接受者的健康和生活，但在本研究中，我们争论MMT如何依赖于监视，纪律和监管的专制话语来遏制和控制成瘾体以确保白。使用以文化为中心的健康方法，我们的分析揭示了MMT中癌症和医疗化相互作用的主要主题:(a)耻辱、监测和社会控制;(b)自由和健康的两重性;(c)代理和阻力。这些发现证明了MMT作为成瘾治疗的主要健康机制的基础假设，以及接受者如何抵制MMT的恶性话语。最后，我们呼吁沟通的理论和实践，以推进一种关系的健康手段，拒绝监狱工业综合体的扩张。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Applied Communication Research COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

4.00

自引率

8.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Applied Communication Research publishes original scholarship that addresses or challenges the relation between theory and practice in understanding communication in applied contexts. All theoretical and methodological approaches are welcome, as are all contextual areas. Original research studies should apply existing theory and research to practical solutions, problems, and practices should illuminate how embodied activities inform and reform existing theory or should contribute to theory development. Research articles should offer critical summaries of theory or research and demonstrate ways in which the critique can be used to explain, improve or understand communication practices or process in a specific context.