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Addictions are a Product of Social Dislocation and Family Stress
Addiction is a common phenomenon in present day society. Addiction is developed by individuals as a coping mechanism to various life problems. This paper is a discussion of how social dislocation and family stress cause addiction. Social dislocation is caused by loss of employment, property and loved ones, assimilation into new cultures, conformity to societal stereotypes, hormonal changes among teenagers and misinterpretation of body scarring practices. The associated forms of addiction are alcoholism, drug and substance abuse, extreme dieting habits, excessive use of beauty products, bad eating habits and extreme body scarring practices.
Loss of employment is an instance of social dislocation. Loss of employment by professionals is a common occurrence in today’s capitalist society. Legally, employment is supposed to be given on the grounds of merit and skills as dictated by the laws. “In order for a free market to be free, the exchange of land, labor, currency and consumer goods must be controlled by the laws of supply and demand” (Alexander and Shaler, 1). However, today’s job market has been jeopardized by fraudulent systems and leadership. Several non-constitutional acts are seen to compromise the basis on which employment is given. These include corruption, nepotism, personal loyalties and favoritism to mention but a few. This causes the qualified people to lose their jobs.
Alcohol abuse is associated with loss of employment. An individual who has lost his job will develop depression due to financial security concerns for him and his dependents, especially his family. In most instances, the person in question is the bread winner of the family and this results in stress of the family as a whole. This person will turn to the abuse of alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with the social dislocation caused. Alcohol gives a momentary illusion that his problems are forgotten. The more the alcohol is consumed the longer this illusion lasts and as the body begins to adapt to a regular consumption of alcohol, the amount needed to create that illusionary feeling also increases. This compels the user to drink more and more alcohol to achieve the feeling. Eventually, the user becomes addicted to alcohol which has adverse mental and physical effects. In this manner, alcoholism as a form of drug abuse is fueled by the loss of employment as a form of social dislocation.
Loss of property is another instance of social dislocation. When people lose their material possession, it is closely linked with losing their social status as well. For instance, if a rich land owner loses his land due to reasons such as displacement by the government or war, he relocates to a place where he lives as a squatter or an average person, a life he is not accustomed to. The free market society is characterized by instances of forced dislocation of individuals from their original settlements. For instance, in England, the country achieved a blooming market system between the 16th and 19th centuries. To achieve this, the middle class individuals and socially disadvantaged inhabitants were forcefully evicted from their farms and original settlements which were then turned into export oriented manufacturing zones for industrialization benefits for the country.
Alcohol abuse is the coping mechanism for loss of property. Deprivation of social status together with adaptation to a life of suffering causes one to resort to alcoholism to numb the associated frustration and depression. Historically, there is a strong correlation between forced dislocations, widespread consumption of alcohol and consequentially drunkenness in Europe during the Middle Ages. During the middle ages, alcohol in Europe was consumed in large amounts exclusively on festivities and alcoholism was not widespread. However, between the 16th and 19th centuries when the free market society forcefully evacuated the European middle class from their farms, there was a surge in the instances of alcohol abuse ( Alexander and Shaler, 3). This abuse of alcohol was a coping mechanism of the social dislocation caused by loss of property.
Loss of loved ones is another cause of social dislocation. These could be friends, family or romantic partners. People lose friends and loved ones in families through road accidents, various illnesses and murder by criminals amongst other reasons. Conflict is also another cause of loss. Sometimes, parents argue and split up leaving the children neglected and they end up roaming the streets with no parental care. Young adults also have a tendency of hopping from one romantic partner to another and in most instances one of the parties is left suffering the aftermath more than the other. All these types of loss create a void in the affected person’s life that they are constantly trying to fill.
Drug and substance abuse is used to illusionary fill the void caused by losing a loved one. Loss of a loved one results in grief. Grief consequently causes feelings such as sadness, depression, anger frustration and anxiety. The human body naturally wants to avoid pain, whereas psychologically, emotions are to be dealt with in order to be subdued. Different people cope with this pain in different ways, but the majority of them find means to leave the feelings of pain untouched. Underlying untouched emotions causes people to turn to alcohol which is a depressant and causes the pain to momentarily go away. Spending time abusing drugs and alcohol gives an illusionary replacement for the void left by a loved one. Finding solace in these drugs in the long run turns into an addiction and in this manner, loss of loved ones as a social dislocation causes drug and substance abuse.
Assimilation into a new culture causes social dislocation. The process of being initiated and incorporated into a new culture other than one’s individual culture has both positive and negative consequences all of which revolve around dislocating an individually socially. In the process of adopting a new culture, one risks losing their originality and identity. A person may also lose the traditions of his or her native land in the process of fitting into the ways of a new country and also risks engaging in criminal activities in the new jurisdiction. There is also the possibility of doing some new learnt activities to extremity...