Community-consumerism: negotiating risk in online drug communities.

Abstract

This study explores the social organisation of risk within online drug-related communities. Drawing on in-depth interviews with participants from two Norwegian Internet drug forums, the paper illustrates how participation in such forums influenced notions of risk, and how it supported notions of participants as being informed, responsible and empowered. First, the forums facilitated an easy exchange of user-generated drug information, which helped members present themselves as informed and competent. Second, members used the communal resources on the forums to negotiate their drug-using identities, in which they resisted stigma and argued for a responsible drug-using identity. Third, the social inclusion and sense of community within the forums formed the basis for collective support, which helped empower those involved. Conceptualised as community-consumerism, these findings highlight the social mechanisms involved in the information self-sufficiency and decentralisation of authority on the Internet, in which members created an alternative frame of reference for drug use and associated health. The concept of community-consumerism offers a perspective on the social organisation of risk within online communities and ought to be of relevance for future studies on online health-related discourses, not only those related to drugs.