Cultural studies, marijuana, etc.

While I don't have an Uncle Abe (that would be cool though), my mom has asked me that really important question, 'Cultural studies? What's that?' And how did I answer that? Well... um... I didn't? Anyhow.

Howard Becker's article "Becoming a Marihuana User" discusses a study performed on a group of fifty marijuana users to determine how they came to use the drug and how their behavior affected and was affected by its use. In the end Becker was able to show how pot smoking (specifically, its recreational use) is a social construction which must be learned. His interviews show how someone doesn't just find some pot on the sidewalk, light it up and ta-da, they're high and enjoying the experience. Rather, they start out by being in a group of marijuana users who in one way or another teach them to smoke pot ("correctly") and how to enjoy the experience. It is a social experience, during which a novice user is led to take a position on the practice - shall he/she continue smoking marijuana because it worked and they enjoyed it? Will they walk away from it for one reason or another? That's another part of culture - how everything is an argument, trying to get you to take a position. By reading these objects analytically you can come to see how culture works underneath.