CULTURE, SUBCULTURE, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF DRUG USER IDENTITY IN TRAINSPOTTING: A CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL STUDIES ANALYSIS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52657/js.v12i2.3571Keywords:
Cultural Studies, Drug Use, Identity Construction, Marginality, Subculture, TrainspottingAbstract
The cultural construction of drug user identity in Trainspotting; situating substance use beyond individual pathology within broader socio-cultural and power structures. Addressing this gap, the study integrates cultural studies, contemporary identity theory, and subcultural analysis within a marginalized Scottish working-class context. The findings show that drug use functions as a culturally embedded practice through which identity is negotiated against dominant neoliberal values. However, this resistance is paradoxical, as subcultural belonging reinforces structural exclusion and limits agency. The study reconceptualizes drug use as a symbolic practice of identity and highlights “subcultural entrapment” as a key dynamic in late modern societies.
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