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The role of the social sciences in drug and alcohol research: An overview
Margaret Hamilton
Department of Public Health and Community Medicine
University of Melbourne, VIC
Abstract
Social sciences have been somewhat secondary, behind medicine and behavioural
psychology, in informing this field for most of this century. The expanded conception of
alcohol and other drugs both allows and requires new inputs from social scientists if we
are to be properly informed about the impact and meaning of these new directions. Given
the complex behaviours and the highly political nature of this field, social scientists might
have the necessary breadth to encompass otherwise divergent concepts to inform future
development.When overviewing the research and discourse in the alcohol and drug arena over the past
decade, one is struck by the eclecticism of the field; the growth of psychology which has,
to some degree, overtaken the former dominance of medicine and the broadened span of
disciplines with active research inputs such as economists; the relative immaturity in
social science theoretical development and its predominant descriptive mode. This paper
will attempt to whet the appetite of social scientists and introduce some of the current
issues in this field; where possible, identifying Australian contributions.
With increased resources this area has grown in the past decade through the National
Campaign Against Drug Abuse launched following the first example of our (then) Prime
Minister crying on TV. It has subsequently focussed attention on public policy with a
strong commitment to prevention grounded in a framework of 'new' public health. This
has expanded the horizon from a once dominant concern with those who were dependent
and had problems on substances to a population wide perspective and consideration of all
Australians' consumption of these substances.
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