Contested identities: Identity constructions in a youth recreational drug culture

Abstract

This article examines young recreational drug users’ identity constructions. Combining a poststructuralist theoretical framework with focus group method, the article investigates how the participants in a focus group interview position themselves and others, thereby negotiating an identity as responsible drug users. The article studies this recreational drug culture and its internal distinctions, conceptions and norms as they are expressed discursively. The analysis identifies six dimensions of the identity as a responsible, recreational drug user: drug practice, general drug knowledge, context-specific drug knowledge, practices for checking drugs, acknowledging one’s position in the surrounding drug scene and age. The analysis shows how being able to perform a coherent identity in line with these dimensions is necessary for being acknowledged as a responsible, recreational drug user.