YouTube channel Facebook account
česká verze

Issues

Issues » 2014/5 - Special English Issue 2014 »

Research Accounts of Female Drug Use and their Implications for Social Work

Magda Frišaufová


Abstract:
Based on a critical review of social science research into female drug use, the author identifies a tendency to lay particular emphasis upon two roles: that of structural constraints or that of individual agencies. This dichotomous perception portrays women drug users as either powerless victims of oppression, or as volitional agents unrestricted by structural limitations. The author explores the implications of such specialised discourse upon social work practice and how it may contribute to further stigmatization and disempowerment of female drug users. Using intersectionalism and broad definitions of agency and social structure, the article suggests a basis for empowering social work practice.

Keywords:
agency, drug use, empowerment, gender, intersectionality


Related papers

Akademické články Child Protection and Gender-Based Violence: How to Prevent the Risk of Secondary Victimization
Akademické články Looking over the Wall: Deinstitutionalization of People with Autism during Communism and after 1989 in Parental Narratives
Akademické články New Paradigms in German Health Promotion – (New) Challenges for Social Work
Akademické články Energy Transition and Environmental Justice: Effects on Vulnerable Groups and Implications for Social Work
Akademické články Emancipatory, Relationship-Based and Deliberative Collective Action: The Power of the Small Group in Shifting from Adversity to Hope, Activism and Development


© 2014, Czech and Slovak Social Work | counter: [CNW:Counter] | … administration