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Social Problems: Exercise 2 - Drugs as a social problem
Instructions:
Read the passage and click on the correct answer. Scroll down
if you do not see the Answer box. If wrong, try again. Click
here to review the key terms for this exercise.
Sociologists believe individuals learn
behaviors by watching and imitating people whom they respect and admire.
This is true whether the people an individual respects behave according
to or against the norms of society (expected ways of behavior). Some
sociologists developed the theory that people who behave deviantly
(against the norms of society) have formed social connections with
other deviants and they have learned deviant values and norms. This
theory is called differential association.
Through studies, sociologists have found
that whether or not someone becomes a drug user depends on how much
that person has developed social ties with other drug users and has
joined in the drug subculture (group that shares interests, norms
and values and is separate from larger society). The more a person
participates in the drug subculture, the higher the chance that this
person will develop a drug habit. Through continued exposure to experienced
drug users, new drug users learn the norms and attitudes associated
with drug-using behavior.
Adolescents are especially open to learning
the values, norms and attitudes of their peers (others of the same
age). The more a young person is encouraged by his peers to use drugs,
the more likely he will do so. In fact, sociologists believe that
the best way to predict whether a teenager will become a drug user
is to look at his or her close friends' behavior.
Instructions:
Read the passage and click on the correct answer. Scroll down
if you do not see the Answer box. If wrong, try again.
