Addiction Becomes Normal

“Today’s addiction discourse turns us all into addicts in waiting. Park’s brilliant genealogy of the modern American subject not only clarifies how this strange and pervasive conception of the human came to be. It also sketches a portrait, deeply unsettling, of a post-disciplinary, post-Foucauldian addicted subject whose soulless cravings come at the cost of its freedoms. A must-read.” -- Lynne Huffer, Emory University “In this ingenious and provocative book, Park argues that twenty-first century Americans increasingly think of themselves as the sites of desires that originate elsewhere—in fitness watches, in ‘wellness’ culture, in Netflix algorithms, and, not least, in psychoactive substances. The result is a thrilling and maddening account of the unexpected but immediately recognizable ways that we are invited to imagine and govern ourselves in a world where ‘addiction has become normal.’” -- David Herzberg, University at Buffalo “What distinctive notions of the subject have become paramount during new regimes of addiction definition, judgment, and treatment in the United States today? What cultural impacts do they carry? In this incisive and groundbreaking book, Park both delineates the details of these new regimes and explores the image of subjectivity they help to insinuate into late-modern life. The author grasps the stakes of this inquiry, and he compels us to appreciate them too. A superb, detailed, and timely study.”  -- William E. Connolly, Resounding Events: Adventures of an Academic from the Working Class