TY - JOUR

T1 - The substance of consumption : alchemy, addiction and the commodity.

AU - Cronin, Anne

PY - 2002/9

Y1 - 2002/9

N2 - This article reconsiders the category of 'commodity' by exploring its historical and contemporary articulation with the category of 'drug' and the way in which both have been figured as transformative. I argue that ideas of substance, substance-dependency, willpower, structures of feeling and social struggles over power amass or materialize at particular moments in their cultural circulation. They coalesce temporarily into a structure conventionally apprehended as a commodity. Thus, values, norms, ideals and feelings substantialize in the form of the commodity. In turn, our relationship to commodities is called on to substantiate or legitimize a particular framing of our social order and control of social groups structured around 'good commodity-drugs', 'bad drugs' and so-called addictive consumption practices. Through such a framework, I analyse the category of 'commodity' as transformational prism which tracks its complex discursive trajectories through pathology, social order, materiality, willpower and feeling.

AB - This article reconsiders the category of 'commodity' by exploring its historical and contemporary articulation with the category of 'drug' and the way in which both have been figured as transformative. I argue that ideas of substance, substance-dependency, willpower, structures of feeling and social struggles over power amass or materialize at particular moments in their cultural circulation. They coalesce temporarily into a structure conventionally apprehended as a commodity. Thus, values, norms, ideals and feelings substantialize in the form of the commodity. In turn, our relationship to commodities is called on to substantiate or legitimize a particular framing of our social order and control of social groups structured around 'good commodity-drugs', 'bad drugs' and so-called addictive consumption practices. Through such a framework, I analyse the category of 'commodity' as transformational prism which tracks its complex discursive trajectories through pathology, social order, materiality, willpower and feeling.

KW - addiction • agency • alchemy • commodity • drug • metamorphosis • patent medicine • structures of feeling

M3 - Journal article

VL - 5

SP - 316

EP - 335

JO - International Journal of Cultural Studies

JF - International Journal of Cultural Studies

SN - 1367-8779

IS - 3

ER -