{"id":1973,"date":"2018-04-20T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=1973"},"modified":"2021-02-08T14:01:28","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T20:01:28","slug":"a-sociological-look-at-marijuana-and-its-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2018\/04\/20\/a-sociological-look-at-marijuana-and-its-users\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sociological Look at Marijuana and Its Users"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Photo by Cannabis Culture, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

April 20th isn\u2019t exactly your average holiday, but ever since the late 1970s, 4\/20 has been commonly associated with marijuana, as many refer to this date as \u201cWeed Day.\u201d Social scientists have studied marijuana use since the mid 20th century, and this has continued alongside changing norms, beliefs, and policies in the United States. In light of this, we rolled up some research on marijuana use. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the mid 20th century, social scientists studied how social forces shape marijuana use and the norms surrounding it. Howard Becker\u2019s famous research illustrates that learning to smoke and enjoying marijuana isn\u2019t a simple, intuitive process. Instead, users must take cues from one another. Through this social interaction, they also form bonds and group identities. Further, their experiences and identities reflect the ways that marijuana use is culturally cast as \u201cdeviant\u201d and sanctioned by legal penalties. This approach — understanding marijuana use, subcultures, and criminalization as social processes — is common in social science research about marijuana users.<\/h5>\n