Learning to Smoke

Tobacco Use in the West

Jason Hughes

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Hardback

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English

University of Chicago Press
15 February 2003

Drug & substance abuse: social aspects; Social & cultural anthropology

Why do people smoke? Taking a unique approach to this question, Jason Hughes moves beyond the usual focus on biological addiction that dominates news coverage and public health studies and invites us to reconsider how social and personal understandings of smoking crucially affect the way people experience it. Learning to Smoke examines the diverse sociological and cultural processes that have compelled people to smoke since the practice was first introduced to the West during the sixteenth century.

Hughes traces the transformations of tobacco and its use over time, from its role as a hallucinogen in Native American shamanistic ritual to its use as a prophylactic against the plague and a cure for cancer by early Europeans, and finally to the current view of smoking as a global pandemic. He then analyzes tobacco from the perspective of the individual user, exploring how its consumption relates to issues of identity and life changes. Comparing sociocultural and personal experiences, Hughes ultimately asks what the patterns of tobacco use mean for the clinical treatment of smokers and for public policy on smoking. Pointing the way, then, to a more learned and sophisticated understanding of tobacco use, this study will prove to be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of smoking and the sociology of addiction.

By: Jason Hughes
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 24mm, Width: 16mm, Spine: 2mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780226359106
ISBN 10: 0226359107
Pages: 209
Publication Date: 15 February 2003
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jason Hughes is lecturer in the Centre for Labour Market Studies at the University of Leicester.

Reviews for Learning to Smoke: Tobacco Use in the West

Learning to Smoke makes very original arguments about the use of tobacco in Western societies. Mindful of major sociological theories and nicely supported by a wealth of historical documentation, this study will find an enthusiastic audience among both specialists and anyone interested in the smoking problem. - Howard Becker, University of California, Santa Barbara