sociology of culture: unit 2

Symbolic Boundaries, Subcultural Capital, and Prescription Drug Misuse across Youth Cultures

Brian C Kelly1,2, James Trimarco2, Amy LeClair2, Mark Pawson2, Jeffrey T Parsons2,3,4, and Sarit A Golub2,3,4

1Department of Sociology, Purdue University

2Center for HIV Educational Studies & Training, CUNY

3Hunter College, CUNY

4Graduate Center, CUNY

Abstract

Prescription drug misuse among young adults has surged over the past decade. Yet, the contexts

surrounding this misuse remain unclear, particularly subcultural contexts. Many urban young

adults participate in youth cultures. This paper describes the subcultural contexts of prescription

drug misuse within youth subcultures. Drawing on ethnographic data collected over 12 months

from different youth cultural scenes, the authors describe the subcultural bases of prescription

drug misuse. The symbolic boundaries and subcultural capital inherent in these scenes shape the

ways youth think about drugs and behave accordingly. While young adults are often lumped

together, ethnographic data show considerable variation across these subcultures with regard to

what may enable or inhibit prescription drug misuse. The broader subcultural ethos in each scene,

as well as attitudes towards other types of drugs, frame the ways that prescription drugs are

perceived and used within each of these scenes. In this regard, the findings highlight the role of

symbolic boundaries and subcultural capital in drug use among young adults by shaping their

routine practices. These data highlight that education campaigns about prescription drug misuse

should account for the variability in youth cultural scenes to maximize the efficacy of these

messages aimed at young adults.

Keywords

prescription drug misuse; youth culture; young adults; symbolic boundaries; subcultural capital

INTRODUCTION

The proliferation of prescription drug misuse during the past decade has permeated the

worlds that young people inhabit. Indeed, young adults are a key segment of the population

for the misuse of prescription drugs; “misuse” typically defined as using prescription drugs

obtained from a non-medical source or using prescription drugs for a non-medical or

Address for correspondence: Brian C. Kelly, Purdue University, Dept of Sociology, 700 W State St, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. [email protected].

HHS Public Access Author manuscript Sociol Health Illn. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2016 March 01.

Published in final edited form as: Sociol Health Illn. 2015 March ; 37(3): 325–339. doi:10.1111/1467-9566.12193.

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recreational purpose (Compton & Volkow, 2006). Young adults involved in nightlife scenes

have particularly high prevalence of prescription drug misuse (Kelly et al, 2013). They

engage in a wide range of social activities, and these distinct social patterns differentially

shape how young people think about and engage in (or don’t engage in) drug use.

Patterns of interaction among young people often coalesce into youth cultures, which

provide important cultural frames for young people. While there is certainly flow between

groups of young people, youth cultures comprise meaningful institutions for those who

participate in them. In this manner, youth cultures – and the “ways of seeing” within them –

remain key influences of drug use among young people (Mulder et al., 2007). They provide

a particular frame of reference for those who participate in them, and this way of thinking

shapes how youth view themselves in reference to others as well as what they value and

esteem, thus shaping how youth behave (Thornton, 1995).

Youth Cultures as Domains of Drug Use

Nightlife scenes inhabited by young adults remain key contexts shaping drug use. Youth

cultures have been previously associated with other drug trends, including the use of blunts

(Dunlap et al., 2005), amphetamines (Hebdige, 1979), and ecstasy (Gourley, 2004). Indeed,

evidence exists for the presence of taste clusters of musical preferences and substance use

(Vuolo, Uggen, & Lageson, 2014). Given that youth cultures are themselves numerous and

diverse, these wide-ranging contexts may differentially shape patterns of prescription drug

misuse among participants, and understanding this trend across several youth cultures may

prove important for targeted health promotion efforts.

Given the significance of youth cultures in the lives of young people, it is important to

account for how they influence drug trends. While broad epidemiological studies are

important, they often treat young adults as a monolithic group, failing to account for the

variation across clusters of young people who share activities, mindsets, tastes, and styles on

the basis of subcultural affiliation (Vuolo, Uggen & Lageson, 2014). As cultural dynamics

vary from subculture to subculture, the practices nested within these domains can be

expected to differ as well, and remain a vehicle for establishing boundaries between

subcultures. In addition, variations in cultural contexts may support the same practices for

different reasons, thus differentially shaping the motivations for and conceptions underlying

behaviors.

Youth cultures function differently and therefore set different patterns for drug use. This

influence is especially likely while drug trends are incubating within subcultures before

diffusing more widely (Hamid, 1992). In examining how youth cultures function differently,

it remains important to consider attempts to articulate boundaries of distinction between

their own group and others, as well as attempts to cultivate status and position within the

youth culture itself. In this regard, considerations of symbolic boundaries (Lamont, 1992)

and subcultural capital (Thornton, 1995) are useful analytic tools.

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Symbolic Boundaries, Subcultural Capital, & the Organization of Youth Cultures

Groups of people draw symbolic boundaries to create conceptual distinctions between

themselves and other types of people (Lamont, 1992). Drawing on the work of Bourdieu,

Lamont asserts that groups use symbolic boundaries to define status and to identify

interlopers, thus constructing representational markers that differentiate themselves from

“others.” In other words, symbolic boundaries mark position within a subcultural world,

used to differentiate insiders from outsiders. Youth cultures enable young people to

symbolically distinguish themselves from others. Such elements of distinction not only

encourage personal identity development, but also reify and legitimize social differences

among youth. These boundaries of distinction enable young people to coalesce around

particular sets of ideas, tastes, and practices, which form the basis of subcultures. Such

distinctions are important for the development of solidarity and draw people together in the

subcultural realm through a shared purpose. Thus, symbolic boundaries do not represent

mere differences in taste or preference, but are fundamentally tied to the architecture of

status and identity in the youth world.

Beyond the purpose of identifying those whom they are like, symbolic boundaries provide

the means for people to articulate whom they are unlike (Bryson, 1996). They allow

subcultural members to reject outsiders. In this regard, symbolic boundaries function as

measures of exclusion; tastes are defined as much by distaste as they are preference

(Bourdieu, 1984). Participation in subcultural activities can reinforce both preferences and

distastes within the practice of a broader subcultural ethos, and function as a public

validation of group membership. In this regard, symbolic boundaries are formed not merely

in rhetoric, but forged in the routine practices of members.

Alongside efforts to render themselves distinct from “others,” youth also negotiate and

accumulate status by cultivating subcultural capital within their own worlds (Thornton,

1995). The notion of subcultural capital is an extension of Bourdieu’s classic work on

cultural capital (1986). Youth cannot forge their identities in the adult realm given their

marginal position in that world. As such, youth develop a different order of prestige symbols

that function in accordance with the immediacies of their lives. At this stage, youth focus

less on things that comprise social position in the adult world and invest heavily in leisure

and the elements of their lives that cohere with it (Thornton, 1995).

Subcultural capital directly relates to one’s position in the field of youth social relations.

Having greater subcultural capital bestows status upon its possessor within that realm. Yet,

subcultural capital is not something that can simply be bought, sold, or traded in a formal or

informal market. It is largely an embodied form related to “being in the know” (Thornton,

1995). In this respect, subcultural capital is far more dependent upon having qualities

engrained in the individual. These are primarily comprised of social connections, knowledge

bases, and experiences with the practices holding prestige in that realm. Much like symbolic

boundaries, these elements of subcultural capital are forged in the routine practices of

members.

The maintenance of symbolic boundaries and the pursuit of subcultural capital through

routine practices lead youth to think and act in particular ways, and shape how they make

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sense of their worlds. In this regard, they set broader parameters that shape actions and

interactions within these scenes, including drug use. Yet, efforts to define oneself as an

insider and earn status within the scene do not have consistent influences; the parameters

they set may either enable or inhibit the use of particular drugs, and these function

differently in every youth scene. Thus, a key area of inquiry remains how pursuits of status

and prestige establish cultural parameters within youth cultures that shape patterns of drug

use.

Current Study

We describe the subcultural underpinnings of how young adults view prescription drug

misuse. Specifically, we conducted an ethnography to examine aspects of three youth

cultures that function either to enable or inhibit the misuse of prescription drugs. This

approach allows us to examine not only the nature of prescription drug misuse across youth

cultures, but to consider the ways in which routine practices aimed at maintaining symbolic

boundaries and accruing subcultural capital shape patterns of drug use among young people

more broadly.

METHODS

This project was designed to examine contextual influences of prescription drug misuse

among young adults. We utilize the term “misuse” so as to distinguish these patterns of drug

consumption from medical “use”, while also not pathologizing young people with the term

“abuse,” which inherently suggests harm or dependence. The first phase centered on an

ethnography of youth cultures in New York, involving participant-observation and informal

interviewing. Five ethnographers – ranging in age from 25 through 32 and diverse in gender

and sexual identity – conducted ethnographic research across six youth cultural scenes, over

12 months from March 2010 to March 2011. We present results from three youth cultures

rooted in musical scenes – electronic dance music (EDM) scenes, hip-hop scenes, and indie

rock scenes.

The ethnography began with social mapping, which facilitated the development of an

ethnographic map of the social landscape of nightlife scenes, important since these scenes

are dispersed throughout the city. At the outset, we attended a range of venues housing

youth cultures to develop profiles of the scenes and assess social patterns within them

through observations and informal interviews. The evaluation of these scenes ensured a

diverse range of settings were attended during ensuing participant-observation.

We conducted systematic fieldwork by becoming immersed in specific scenes. Rather than

broad coverage of all scenes, each ethnographer focused on one or two subcultures to enable

depth and immersion. The key feature was active participation in the social milieus of these

scenes. We routinely observed cultural processes and social interactions as well as regularly

engaged in informal interviews. The relative youth of the ethnographers allowed for an

extended presence and the acquisition of roles within these milieus, which further enabled us

to develop rapport and insight. Extended ethnographic fieldwork enabled us to connect

patterns and practices of prescription drug misuse to the social contexts of these scenes. All

fieldwork resulted in documentation via ethnographic fieldnotes. Over the course of the

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year, we conducted 266 nights of field observations, each lasting approximately 4 hours.

Thus, we collectively spent over 1,000 hours immersed within these scenes. Such an

extended presence enabled thick descriptions of these contexts. Fieldnotes contained

descriptions of observations and informal interviews. Specific attention was paid to

normative behaviors, key cultural frameworks, perceived authenticity and other sources of

subcultural capital, drug use patterns, and modes of social interaction.

Analysis

Our analysis occurred through a collective and iterative process. Memoing procedures were

used throughout the course of fieldnote writing (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). Memos

highlight potential lines of inquiry and emerging ideas that are grounded in the fieldwork

data. Such memos were written based upon observations and informal interviews

documented in fieldnotes. The ethnographers regularly met to review and discuss fieldnotes

and memos throughout the fieldwork. In this regard, we analyzed ethnographic data

continuously to further direct our approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1998).

After the completion of data collection, we analyzed fieldnote data through an iterative

process. Using NVIVO software for data analysis, we coded fieldnotes to identify aspects of

each scene that either enable or inhibit prescription drug misuse. Regular process meetings

were held to discuss emergent findings and permit scrutiny by other ethnographers. Thus,

the analytic findings were subject to inquiry by the wider team. All fieldnote data reported in

the results highlight key aspects found in these scenes, not isolated phenomena. The

fieldnote excerpts presented have codified identifiers indicating the ethnographer and date of

fieldwork.

RESULTS

Young adults misuse prescription drugs for many of the same reasons they use other

psychoactive drugs. They can provide energy, induce euphoria, alleviate social anxiety, or

provide a “body buzz,” among other qualities. In this manner, they fit into a broader

pharmacopeia within nightlife scenes. They also provide a useful window into how the

cultural contexts of these scenes shape patterns of drug use.

Indie Rock Scene

Our research revealed two contrasting factors that enabled prescription drug misuse in the

indie rock scene: an aesthetic of excess and strict norms of comportment. As we will show,

the aesthetic of excess tended to be more powerful in underground subscenes, while strict

norms of comportment were more powerful in commercial ones.

The aesthetic of excess gets enacted when members believe that to fully enjoy an event, they

must live in the moment, avoid consideration of consequences, and push themselves to

“party” as hard as they physically can. In this scene, the aesthetic of excess involved

behaviors related to the pop-cultural mythology of the “rock star” and related practices of

physical disinhibition and drug use. The aesthetic of excess suggests a rejection of

mainstream ideas about how the body should be governed in social situations:

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A group of five young women were all sitting in a circle. … Then this tall lanky

character with long, curly black hair would come running over, flailing his legs

high, grab one of them off the ground, and dance with her in a circle, going faster

and faster until the centrifugal force flung them away. Then they would both go

stumbling, tripping, and falling onto the floor, where they would roll around with

their legs flying up in the air. (JT042410)

The aesthetic of excess is strongly associated with the consumption of alcohol and drugs,

especially when consumed socially and in a celebratory manner reminiscent of

representations of “rock stars” in popular culture.

People were getting really stoned all around me. Next a bottle of Sobieski vodka

appeared and the group passed it all around. The beefy guy I’d seen upstairs praised

Sobieski, saying “Other vodkas won’t make you wake up in the grass at McCarren

Park like Sobieski will!” Everybody laughed. Josh finished off the vodka with a

couple of deep swigs. (JT020311)

The aesthetic of excess becomes a form of prestige cultivation, especially in underground

circles, and encourages the misuse of prescription drugs in two ways. First, it enables people

to become more intoxicated, leading to the misuse of prescription drugs to medicate

hangovers and other after effects of substance use. Second, prescription drugs are

incorporated directly into the celebratory drug use of the aesthetic of excess:

A young woman, maybe 19 years old, was talking loudly to all her friends. … “I

can’t give you any more Adderall!” she shouted, loud enough for the whole

balcony to hear. “I already gave all my Adderall to Dan! He’s inside dancing! If

you want Adderall, talk to Dan.” (JT091510)

While less common than other drugs, the incorporation of prescription drugs into excess-

oriented patterns of consumption provided the means for this young man to actively

participate in the scene.

The second enabling factor observed was the strict norms of comportment that governed

behavior in commercialized scenes, where – in contrast to the underground – participants

were more likely to dress stylishly, limit themselves with intoxicants, and remain relatively

motionless during shows. This was a return to the rules about the body that the aesthetic of

excess rejects. Generally, strict norms of comportment operated in commercialized venues,

while the aesthetic of excess operated in underground ones.

Strict norms of comportment became highly visible when some attempted to engage in the

aesthetic of excess – often in locales where the underground and commercial scenes came

together. This was not uncommon because the broader indie scene’s notions of authenticity

actively promoted excess, through ideas connecting drugs with enhanced perception of

music or with full participation in the scene. The contradiction between these beliefs and

strict norms of comportment led to incidents such as the following, in which a young woman

took drugs at a commercial indie event. The promoter spoke about why that was a problem:

“I like shrooms as much as the next person,” She said. “But do shrooms at home

with your friends or whatever. Doing them at a club is crazy.” She looked back at

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the tripping woman and gave a huff. She and all of her friends seemed unable to

talk or think about anything else besides the transgressions of the tripping girl.

They were all staring and pointing and talking about how she was climbing on to

the stage. Meanwhile, Cole went on singing with the video projecting over himself

and onto the wall. He did not acknowledge the tripping girl in any way. (JT110710)

A few minutes later, the promoter addressed the musician and attempted to apologize:

“I’m so sorry about that girl who was crawling up on the stage!,” she said to him,

“We couldn’t get her off.” “Oh,” Cole said. “That’s what made it awesome. No,

seriously, that made it so much better.” (JT110710)

This exchange clarifies the contradictions that haunt indie rock’s commercial subscene. Do

members gather for the indie rock tradition of excess, or for a more businesslike practice of

consuming music and meeting friends? Most gravitated toward one subscene or the other

depending on how they would answer this question. Yet, ambiguity remained, in which

some wanted to experience a small amount of excess and remain in control at the same time.

This condition, nearly ubiquitous in the commercialized subscene, creates an ideal setting

for prescription drug misuse, which may generate euphoric experiences, yet allow the user to

appear in control of her body if used carefully.

These enabling factors appeared together with a powerful set of inhibiting factors: (a)

incompatibility between prescription drugs and local notions of authenticity; (b) preferences

for things perceived as natural; and (c) the unsuitability of prescription drugs in rituals of

drug-sharing.

First, there is an incompatibility between prescription drugs and the rock scene’s unique

concepts about authenticity, which provided a way to discern “real” members of the scene

from interlopers. For example, this is what members did when they criticized bands for

becoming famous “just because they were friends with” important show promoters

(JT021111), or because “once they start getting a few good shows, they act like assholes to

everybody” (JT021111). Another fan put these values into even stronger words:

“What I like is to see a band that’s really getting into it, you know?” he said. “Not

some wankers who are making a statement about some idea. (JT060510)

As these statements imply, authenticity in the indie rock scene is a complex value system in

which subcultural capital can be earned through the display of such qualities as creativity,

sincerity, and a willingness to enact excess with others in the scene. Qualities such as

ambition and a calculating approach to social hierarchy were associated with diminished

subcultural capital.

Authenticity affected drug use patterns in several ways. First, participants sought to increase

their subcultural capital through public consumption of drugs associated with values such as

creativity, sincerity, and excess. In practice, aside from heavy alcohol use, this usually

meant marijuana, cocaine, and psychedelics, which were traditional to the scene. Second, the

indie rock notion of authenticity led people to seek drug experiences worthy of a rock star:

especially in the underground, drugs were expected to be social and intense, even dangerous.

Prescription drugs, therefore, were rejected by some in the underground:

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“Well, you’re not gonna find that with people who are into extreme music,” Dillon

said. “… They’re proud of their hangovers. It’s like a macho thing. They want their

hangover to be as bad as possible, so they’re not gonna pop pills to come down.

And it’s more than that, really. … They’re into extremes of experience, so they’re

really not going to take those drugs because those drugs make the experience less

extreme. They make it more under control. We like dangerous drugs and those are

safe drugs.” “You mean, safe from the law?” I said. “No, safe for your body.

They’re not going to kill you, you know? People take them so that they don’t get

too high or too low. They use them to maintain control. You’re not gonna find that

in any extreme music scene. You should look in the hipster scene, the ones who

like shoegaze and all that British stuff.” (JT020911)

Note that the speaker ascribes prescription drug misuse to those he considers less authentic

—the word “hipster,” for many within this scene, essentially means “an inauthentic person.”

And, while not all participants would agree with his comments about liking “dangerous

drugs,” people often reacted to our questions about prescription drug misuse in this scene

with skepticism. Members took pride in their own reliance on the scene’s traditional drugs

and assumed that others did, too.

A second inhibiting factor was a preference for natural things. This was a broad aesthetic

sensibility in which things perceived “natural” were preferred over the “synthetic”: organic

foods over packaged ones, guitar players over DJs, casual outfits over highly manicured

ones, and drugs that “came out of the ground” over ones made in a laboratory, particularly a

corporate one.

One of the clearest manifestations of this preference was the look of the performance spaces

themselves, especially in the underground. While venues in other scenes cultivated a highly

stylized look, venues in this scene had a sloppy, laissez-faire décor. Encrustations of stickers

and graffiti, visible kitchens and sleeping areas, and deliberately DIY lighting systems and

decor all expressed this aspect of indie aesthetics:

This scene is obsessed with things that look sloppy, hand-made, and soulful. They

enjoy the way the stickers, tags, and comments in marker accumulate on the walls

and doors here. It gives a sense of humanity and chaos that you would NEVER see

in the bathroom at a dance club. (JT041710)

This was simultaneously a way of celebrating the lifestyle choices of members and rejecting

the corporate aesthetics of mainstream venues. The origins of prescription medications in

corporate pharmaceutical laboratories went directly against this aspect of the indie rock

scene’s system of values and subcultural capital.

The third inhibitor was the unsuitability of prescription drugs in sharing rituals traditional to

the scene. In a process connected to the aesthetic of excess, drugs are shared freely here,

even with strangers. For instance:

The guitar player came over and asked if anybody had a light. He was holding a

long, intense-looking joint in his huge hands. I gave him my lighter and he lit the

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joint. … Everybody smoked some, then they offered it to me. I declined, feeling

like an asshole. (JT042410)

This ritual of sharing drugs, especially marijuana, creates a space of enhanced intimacy in

which friendships are often initiated. However, sharing rituals are often limited to alcohol

and illicit drugs traditional to the scene – e.g. shots of alcohol, passing a joint, or sharing

bumps of cocaine. While the use of these drugs was celebratory and social, prescription

drugs were used alone or passed between intimates, often for instrumental purposes.

Members themselves noticed this difference, often judging the solitary use of prescription

drugs as isolating:

“With the pot and the coke, you’re gonna see it because people are gonna pass it

over to you,” he said. “They don’t do that with the pills. Nobody’s gonna be like

‘Hey, want a Xanax?’ They hoard that stuff. It’s like ‘Don’t touch my pills!’”

(JT020911)

The absence of prescription drugs from sharing rituals meant that a pathway for the

circulation of drugs through social networks was diminished. Because sharing was an

important source of drugs for some participants, the absence of prescription drugs from

these rituals significantly inhibited their use.

The three inhibitors observed in the indie rock scene were especially powerful in the

underground. In these social spaces, all three tended to reinforce one another within the

routine practices of members, thus inhibiting prescription drug misuse. In the commercial

subscenes, these inhibitors were weaker because less-involved participants derived less from

perceived authenticity and naturalness as a source of subcultural capital.

Hip Hop Scene

We observed no instances of prescription drug misuse in the hip-hop scene, and identified

only one factor that might enable it, the treatment of drugs as currency during exchanges at

hip-hop events. While sharing drugs was a common way of deepening social relationships in

other scenes, drugs were rarely shared in the hip-hop scene. Instead, men worked out barter

arrangements for exchanges of intoxicants. For instance, one might be included in a round of

blunt-smoking in exchange for contributing marijuana:

I noticed that there was this Asian girl who wore a top hat and a button down shirt

in which the top half was unbuttoned. She broke up some weed in her hands as

another guy stood behind her and broke apart a philly blunt. Then, this short guy

came up to them and whispered something in the white guys’ ear and he nodded.

The short guy then handed the girl some more pot and began to break apart another

blunt. … Soon, the girl finished breaking up the weed and as the guys were taking

some to fill up their blunts, the short guy began arguing about the amount being

divided up into the two blunts. The other guy didn’t seem to be in the mood to

argue so he put some more pot into the short guy’s blunt. The two guys rolled the

blunts up and instantly lit them. The two guys basically smoked the blunts

themselves, occasionally passing them to the girl. (MP042010)

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Other typical exchanges involved buying drinks or offering a bump of cocaine in exchange

for a few hits from a blunt. In this scene, subcultural capital was connected with toughness

and calculated trading, not sharing and generosity.

This attitude is an enabler for prescription drug misuse because, by monetizing prescription

drugs, it nullifies factors that would otherwise inhibit them in this scene. For example,

prescription drugs are normally discouraged because they do not help participants display

masculinity; therefore, someone who shared prescription drugs might risk losing status.

Turning that exchange into a “strictly business” deal, however, strips the interaction of these

factors by making it seem as though each person is simply trying to get the best deal he can.

For example:

According to Darrell, some brought Rx drugs, which they used to trade for more

difficult-to-get substances such as ecstasy and coke. In this way, Rx drugs were a

form of currency that could be used to obtain other drugs in “the world we run in,

the nightlife world,” Darrell said. (JT021611)

Outside of this enabling factor, much about the hip-hop scene discouraged prescription drug

misuse. We consider three main inhibiting factors: (a) hypermasculinity and its attending

lack of sociability; (b) an incompatibility between prescription drug misuse and notions of

authenticity; and (c) the inappropriateness of prescription drugs for routines of conspicuous

consumption.

In the commercial subscene, men often displayed hypermasculine behaviors. They were

intent on gaining status by performing a self that was tough, stoic, and potentially

dangerous. Sensitive to anything that might threaten this display of masculinity, particularly

disrespect, men showed a profound lack of sociability and rarely spoke with others outside

their core friends:

This MC tried to get involved with the crowd by trying some call and response

chants, but the crowd barely responded. He wasn’t getting booed, but as far as I

was concerned he might as well have as the crowd’s response was almost non-

existent. I remember being shocked looking over the crowd; they seemed

completely uninterested in this MC as well as each other. Everyone was just sort of

standing there, silently listening and completely motionless. (MP033110)

The main exception to this lack of sociability appeared in the case of perceived disrespect

from others, which was met with open hostility:

It became obvious just how drunk some of the attendees were as it was nearly

impossible to move without either being bumped into or bumping into others who

could barely stand up straight. This bumping into people was met with much

hostility, be it either a mean stare or a quick “Yo, what the fuck?” (MP033110)

This gendered pattern of behavior inhibited prescription drug misuse because it is not an

explicitly masculine behavior. In some circles, given these drugs’ association with illness

and anxiety, the misuse of such substances may be construed as feminizing. The

performance of masculinity and its attending lack of sociality also inhibit network

connections, a primary means by which prescription drugs are shared.

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The second inhibiting factor was the deep incompatibility between prescription drugs and

local notions of authenticity. In musical terms, participants usually signaled their desire to

distinguish the authentic from the fake by mentioning “real hip-hop.” The following passage

sheds some light on what this phrase implied, at least when applied to musicians:

His friend interjected and completely disagreed with the need to “over dub” vocals

live. I asked him why he felt that way. He said it’s like rapping with training

wheels on and he was shocked that a rapper would be allowed to do that at this

show. I asked him why he felt that way and he basically told me that this show was

all about “real” hip hop and that classic hip hop artists had to rely on just their own

skills on the mic and their DJ’s skills on the turntables. (JT072410)

Note the personal qualities that MCs were expected to have: resourcefulness, self-reliance,

integrity. The attributes suggested by the use of prescription drugs—dependence, illness,

and so on—were more likely to damage these values than to enhance them. This was even

more true for the wider array of attributes associated with authenticity among hip-hop scene

participants, which included having grown up in a rough neighborhood, possession of

respect and power, and physical strength and stamina. Often, authenticity displays involved

a highly dialectical communication cycle, in which the performer affirmed the attribute and

the audience then cheered in support:

The place began to reek of pot as many of the guys on stage were smoking blunts.

The MC kept shouting out “D block” (a notorious part of Yonkers) and every time

he did, the crowd erupted into cheers. It was obvious that a lot of people came

down from Yonkers to pay respect to one of their MCs. (MP060810)

Men in this scene attempted to embody this code of authenticity through putting on a tough,

stoic front and competing playfully with their friends:

I asked him why he thought that it was difficult to talk to people at shows and why

he thought his friends had been getting into fights at shows. Ron told me that

people put on this tough guy front at shows as they’re mirroring the gangster, tough

guy image portrayed in hip hop media like MTV and BET rap videos. I then turned

the question on him and asked him why he thought that I would respond any

differently when he approached me. He then told me that it’s all basically a gamble.

(MP051210)

Few substances helped members increase their subcultural capital: liquor often consumed as

a shot, marijuana smoked as a blunt, and, very occasionally, cocaine. These substances

enhanced prestige via authenticity for several reasons. First, each had a pedigree within hip-

hop culture. Additionally, they were expensive and tested the physical stamina of the user.

Prescription drugs lack in these aspects, and were perceived as safe, legal, and not

particularly expensive. Therefore, participants were likely to view them as inauthentic and

potentially damaging to their reputations.

The third inhibiting factor had to do with the inappropriateness of prescription drugs for

routines of conspicuous consumption. Almost every type of consumption practice possible

in a club environment was incorporated into conspicuous consumption in this scene. VIP

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membership and bottle service represented an avenue for it. Clothing and fashion,

meanwhile, was expected to be brand-new and expensive:

Most people were dressed to impress as they were wearing flashy chains with

expensive button downs or designer t-shirts, while others wore sweat suit pants

with matching zip up hoodies with pristine white Nike uptowns on and doo rags

worn underneath baseball caps worn slightly crooked with the stickers on the brim

that signify the cap’s authenticity. (MP033110)

The same dynamic extended to the consumption of substances. In no other scene was

substance use so consistently public, so thick with messages intended for onlookers. This

was not a scene where participants went to the bathroom or took a walk around the block

when they wanted to smoke a blunt. Instead, they often picked a highly visible location and

were encouraged in this by the performers:

Before finishing his set, the rapper did a song about smoking weed and he

demanded that people in the crowd “light ‘em up if you got ‘em”. Many members

of the crowd followed suit and the venue began to reek like pot. The MC even took

a toke off of a joint that these two guys were smoking right in front of the stage.

(MP072410)

It is easy to see why the emphasis on conspicuous consumption in this scene would inhibit

prescription drug misuse. This scene has found ways to make all of its traditional drugs as

visible as possible—the emphasis on blunts and shots for instance—but small pills do not

lend themselves to this type of use. The very invisibility that participants in other scenes

value about prescription drugs makes them unappealing in the hip-hop scene.

EDM Scene

The EDM scene is oriented around dancing to electronic music played by DJs. It is divided

into a number of subscenes with specific styles of music and which view themselves as

distinct scenes. Scenes organized around relatively new styles of EDM music (like dubstep

and psytrance) tended to attract a younger audience than established styles (like house and

techno). We identified two major factors that enabled prescription drug misuse in this scene:

the use of prescription drugs to regulate the effects of club drugs and a preference for

artificial things.

Some users of club drugs took prescription drugs to regulate their effects. They misused

prescription painkillers and sedatives to sleep after taking doses of cocaine or ecstasy that

would otherwise keep them awake, or to medicate unpleasant effects of drug use that arose

the following day:

I asked what the Xanax was for. Xavier told me that he had an important meeting

the next day and that he needed to sleep before he went to it. He would take some

Xanax before he got home to temper the effects of the Ecstasy he’d taken and allow

him to sleep. He lived in Northern New Jersey and got there on the NJ Transit, so

with luck he might be getting home at 6:00 am or so…. I asked him which he’d

gotten into first, Ecstasy or Xanax. He said Ecstasy, and that he heard about the

Xanax after he’d been doing Ecstasy at parties for a while. (JT041610)

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The use of prescription sedatives allowed him to continue using club drugs while

minimizing the sacrifice of his responsibilities. Note that this practice is part of the scene’s

culture; Xavier learned about the use of Xanax from other members.

Others regulated the mellowness associated with marijuana by mixing it with prescription

stimulants like Adderall. This phenomenon was especially pronounced because it was

common for EDM events to continue until 4am, 6am, or even 10am, and participants who

remained dancing and active until the end earned subcultural capital.

In a little while the music started to change and it was clear that the party was over.

It was 4:30am. Dave was confused. He said he’d planned on being here dancing to

dubstep all night. He said that was why he’d taken the Adderall. … I asked whether

he took Adderall frequently when he went out to party. He said he used it

sometimes, if he wanted to be out all night, and usually mixed it with pot.

(JT061810)

The second enabler we observed was a preference for the artificial. This was analogous to

the preference for natural things found in the indie scene, but reversed so that participants

preferred DJs over guitarists, hi-end sound systems over DIY ones, and stylish clothes over

scrappy looks. These environments conveyed the preference for machine-made perfection.

At the same time, the preference for artificial things functioned to create a feeling that the

best things in life were new and high functioning. Prescription drugs, as high-performance,

corporate, and synthetic psychoactive compounds, fit in well with the general aesthetics of

this scene and remained widespread, especially relative to scenes based primarily around

other forms of music.

These enablers were mitigated by two inhibiting factors: incompatibility between

prescription drugs and the subcultural system of authenticity, and a preference for

psychedelic drugs seen as appropriate for the EDM experience. These inhibiting factors

tended to be strongest among those at the center of the scene. Casual participants were less

inhibited by them.

Like other scenes based around music, the EDM scene contained local notions of

authenticity that formed a key source of subcultural capital; the idea of having deep roots

and history within the scene was a primary component. Some tried to demonstrate this by

discussing their knowledge of the scene’s history. Others demonstrated their connection

with the scene’s roots by discussing famous DJs they knew. The practice of having one’s

picture taken with famous DJs was a way of preparing oneself to do this in the future.

This emphasis on tradition may inhibit prescription drug misuse simply because they are not

viewed as part of EDM’s roots. This factor was especially strong in older subscenes such as

the one around drum and bass, where prescription drugs were rare and participants stayed

awake relying on caffeine and energy drinks rather than on prescription stimulants. This

factor was weaker in newer subscenes such as dubstep, whose roots were still being formed.

The second inhibiting factor involved an incompatibility between prescription drug misuse

and the quest for altered experiences, another source of capital in most EDM subscenes.

Especially among younger participants, the holy grail of participation is the attainment of

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deeply altered states through the combination of club drugs and sustained dancing. The

altered state-seekers who stepped off the dance floor to speak with us described this

experience with passion.

I asked them what they thought of the dubstep. “It’s great,” said Adam, who

generally spoke in short sentences. Rhiannon was more florid. “It’s amazing,” she

said. “I can feel the bass just rippling through my entire body. The music is just

taking me away. It’s like I’m dancing and I’m not even in control of what’s

happening.” (JT061210)

The pursuit of such experiences inhibits prescription drug misuse, first because prescription

drugs did not contribute directly to this experience (although they contributed indirectly by

helping participants stay awake), and second because some believed that prescription drugs

belonged to category of “bad drugs” seen as spiritually and physically dangerous:

You know, there’s good and bad drugs. I mean, the drugs I do are basically all good

drugs. All drugs are bad, I guess, in a way, but you know what I mean. Some drugs

are bad: heroin, coke, oxycontin, prescription. I never touch any of that shit. That

shit just kills your soul. (JT071010)

The “good drugs” this man spoke of included ecstasy, LSD, ketamine, and mushrooms, all

of which were associated with trance experiences, or what scene members sometimes called

“the expansion of consciousness.”

It’s important to note that the EDM scene’s inhibiting factors depend entirely on its own

internal norms and systems of subcultural capital. Therefore, these inhibitors primarily

influence the behavior of those at the center of the scene who have been fully socialized into

these ideas. The scene does not generate the same level of inhibition for more casual

participants.

DISCUSSION

Nightlife scenes that house youth cultures remain key contexts that shape patterns of drug

use among young people. With the growth in prescription drug misuse, these scenes provide

particular contexts for this emerging drug trend, and differentially shape patterns of misuse

in accordance with the cultural milieus they provide. In this regard, the phenomenon of

prescription drug misuse highlights how youth cultures – as clusters of young people

organized around specific activities, mindsets, tastes, and styles – influence patterns of drug

use beyond specific drug rituals through the common routine practices engaged in by young

people. Importantly, this paper identifies that there are cultural dimensions to many youth

cultures that both enable and inhibit particular forms of drug use. Although youth cultures

are often portrayed as fomenting drug use, as cultural contexts, they provide nuanced and

varied influences on drug use.

The broader cultural frameworks of these varied youth cultures shape the ways in which

prescription drugs are viewed, valued, and used within these scenes. Practices aimed at

cultivating prestige and articulating boundaries set the parameters for how certain drugs may

be incorporated into a scene. For example, the aesthetic of excess in the indie rock

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underground not only allows youth to distinguish themselves from youth in other scenes and

earn status within their own, but defines the basis of appropriate drug use as well. In this

regard, symbolic boundaries and subcultural capital within each scene set broader

parameters for how young people conceive of drug use and enact their routines (Bourdieu,

1984). Yet, the role of symbolic boundaries and subcultural capital in shaping drug use need

not be overt or directly tied to drugs themselves. Young people involved in various youth

cultures generate particular logics of practice on the basis of strategies to erect symbolic

boundaries – between themselves and those on the “outside” – and cultivate capital – to

achieve status within their scenes (Bourdieu, 1986). The routine practices, such as modes of

interaction and cultural aesthetics, that ultimately influence drug use within these scenes are

enacted through efforts related to symbolic boundaries and subcultural capital (Lamont,

1992; Thornton, 1995). Thus, efforts to maintain boundaries and earn capital indirectly

shape how young people think about particular drugs and the instrumental value such drugs

have within each scene. Even when such boundaries do not directly pertain to drugs, their

broader cultural influences set the parameters for how young people think about drugs and

how drugs fit into the dynamics of these scenes.

The findings described above also highlight how symbolic boundaries and subcultural

capital produce different meanings underlying similar drug use practices. Even when the

same substances are used in different youth cultures, the differences in how young people

establish hierarchies of inclusion and status influence how these distinctions become

inflected in the meanings underlying drug use practices. In this regard, these parameters

establish the different meanings and implications that drugs have across youth cultures.

Considerations of routine practice extend early deviance scholars’ foci on how normative

structures influence the experience of drugs (e.g. Becker, 1953; Davis & Munoz, 1968). Yet,

the critical element of the subcultures is the organization of routine practices through which

such norms become sedimented within the individual. These practices become culturally

defined and routinized though the interactions with other members that are informed by

following prescriptions for status and position; these are important features of the value

system within subcultures as well as a component of identity development for young people.

The element of routines within these subcultures is a critical component of thinking of them

as cultural domains, as the routinized element of these interactions becomes a means of

habituating young people into that cultural system in mundane ways that have subtle

influences on behavior.

The paper also highlights the extent to which embeddedness in a subculture matters for the

ways in which symbolic boundaries and subcultural capital influence members’ behaviors.

Those more deeply embedded in underground scenes, and thus more central within the

subculture, experience the resonance of these influences more profoundly – in part because

the components of subcultural capital and symbolic boundaries are more meaningful to

them. Those on the commercial periphery, by contrast, appear to be less subject to the

impressions of the cultural dimensions of these scenes. The weight of influence matters

because these in turn shape the extent to which the cultural contexts enable or inhibit

particular forms of drug use.

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These considerations are not merely useful for sociological inquiry, but for approaches to

reducing harm. In particular, the framing of youth cultures as cultural communities leads to

the potential fostering of “intraventions.” As Friedman and colleagues describe,

“intraventions” are “prevention activities that are conducted and sustained through processes

within communities themselves” (Friedman et al, 2004, p 251). Rather than being imposed

by professionals, intraventions have organic qualities and are nurtured within the subculture.

They are grounded within communities in an attempt to ameliorate harms in culturally-

sanctioned ways. Intraventions thus adhere to a subcultural logic and value system of that

subculture. As noted above, there are elements of each youth culture that inhibit prescription

drug misuse, and those may be leveraged to prevent use, reduce use, or enable harm

reduction strategies. These present practical approaches reducing harm within youth cultural

scenes.

Limitations

As is common to most methods, certain limitations must be considered. One is simply that

an ethnographer cannot attend all locations in a large city that house a youth culture and

achieve the depth intrinsic to the method. While we aimed to mitigate this via social

mapping, we recognize that practitioners of the ethnographic method generally sacrifice

breadth to achieve this depth. Yet, the comparative component of this ethnography also

permits us to consider the applicability of conceptual frameworks across youth cultures.

Another limitation is that only those scene members who physically appear in the venues

can be included. Membership may not only relate to presence within venues but also with

characteristics such as social networks, musical tastes, and forms of subcultural capital.

Some who may meet these criteria did not always show up. This limitation may inflate

contact with those who may be more likely to stay out and remain active. An additional

limitation of this study has to do with location; New York City is a highly specific social

context. While we believe many aspects of our results can be extended to other locations,

especially major urban centers, further research is needed in order to understand exactly how

prescription drug misuse may vary regionally.

Considerations

There are clear differences in patterns of drug use across youth cultures. These differences

are influenced by a broader subcultural context governed by how youth pursue status within

their scene and maintain markers of distinction from others. The parameters of drug use are

forged in the routine practices that are aimed at generating subcultural capital and drawing

symbolic boundaries. Such routine practices establish the architecture for broader patterns of

behavior, including drug use, and influence such behaviors in indirect ways. These

influences must be accounted for in any efforts to influence patterns of drug use within

youth cultures.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 DA025081). The views expressed in this paper do not expressly reflect the views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or any other governmental agency. The authors acknowledge the contributions of Shula Melamed, Max Besbris and Michael Diaz and other members of the project team, especially Brooke Wells.

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Culture as a Social Creation

Jennifer L. Adams, M.A.