Dr Adrian Farrugia: Everyday intoxications: A qualitative analysis of young people’s alcohol and other drug consumption

Datum
08. Okto­ber 2025 

Online Sem­i­nar

Dr Adri­an Far­ru­gia (La Trobe University/School of Soci­ol­o­gy Vis­it­ing Fel­low): Every­day intox­i­ca­tions: A qual­i­ta­tive analy­sis of young people’s alco­hol and oth­er drug consumption

Sem­i­nar in the ANU Soci­ol­o­gy Sem­i­nar Series.
Mon­day 8 Octo­ber, 2025
12 – 1pm AEST
Zoom seminar

Join Zoom Meeting
https://anu.zoom.us/j/83593100175?pwd=bx64ZVkGsktX3cDknKYH0B8qECCZvC.1&from=addon

Abstract:

Much soci­o­log­i­cal research on young people’s drug con­sump­tion seeks to push past the nar­row pub­lic health focus on risk and harm by cen­tring plea­sure as a key dynam­ic shap­ing the moti­va­tions and out­comes of these prac­tices. This schol­ar­ship demon­strates the lim­its of a myopic focus on harm by exam­in­ing, for exam­ple, mean­ing­ful forms of inti­ma­cy, social con­nec­tion and gen­er­a­tive embod­ied plea­sures that form through drug con­sump­tion. This inter­ven­tion often relies on exam­i­na­tions of acute forms of intox­i­ca­tion and ecsta­t­ic plea­sures, extra­or­di­nary con­sump­tion pos­si­bil­i­ties that by pos­i­tive­ly trans­form­ing every­day life, stark­ly con­trast with nar­ra­tives of risk and harm. While a high­ly gen­er­a­tive area of schol­ar­ship, we ask whether focus­ing on ecsta­t­ic­plea­sures risks inad­ver­tent­ly repro­duc­ing bound­aries between the ordi­nary and extra­or­di­nary in ways that posi­tion drug con­sump­tion as excep­tion­al – out­side the realms of ordi­nary life or the ‘every­day’. Com­bin­ing insights from the soci­ol­o­gy of the ‘every­day’ as the site of the mun­dane and the excep­tion­al with recent exam­i­na­tions of the mul­ti­plic­i­ty and flu­id­i­ty of intox­i­ca­tion, we analyse how alco­hol and oth­er drug con­sump­tion is artic­u­lat­ed as part of every­day life in inter­views with 40 young peo­ple aged 16 to 20. Although alco­hol and oth­er drug con­sump­tion was not an every­day prac­tice for most of these young peo­ple in the tem­po­ral sense, we exam­ine how they artic­u­late it as part of every­day life by empha­sis­ing: (1) less florid forms of intox­i­ca­tion, (2) rou­tine intox­i­cat­ed social­i­ty, and (3) soli­tary plea­sures that are not marked­ly dis­tinct from every­day life but form part of its nor­ma­tive fab­ric. We argue that these accounts trou­ble bound­aries between the ordi­nary and extra­or­di­nary and offer an account of youth drug con­sump­tion that grap­ples with its poten­tial to be an uncon­tro­ver­sial aspect of the every­day regard­less of whether it occurs every day.

Adri­an Far­ru­gia is a Senior Research Fel­low and leads the Drugs, Gen­der and Sex­u­al­i­ty Pro­gram at the Aus­tralian Research Cen­tre in Sex, Health and Soci­ety, La Trobe Uni­ver­si­ty. Adri­an is a soci­ol­o­gist of health focussed on the polit­i­cal and eth­i­cal issues raised by efforts to reduce harms usu­al­ly under­stood as drug-relat­ed and the gov­er­nance of health more gen­er­al­ly. His most recent research exam­ines how gen­der and sex­u­al­i­ty shape young people’s drug con­sump­tion and inform drug edu­ca­tion programs.

More info: https://sociology.cass.anu.edu.au/events/everyday-intoxications-qualitative-analysis-young-peoples-alcohol-and-other-drug