Drugs: Mysticism, Optimization, Oblivion
SOC 296
Spring 2026
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01
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Drugs are central to the American story. Many take drugs to wake up, drugs to keep focused at work, drugs to calm down, drugs to party, drugs to understand the self and the world, drugs to mitigate pain and drugs to fall asleep. American drug consumption is a significant driver of global production in both licit and illicit markets, while the 50+ year American "war on drugs" has violently reshaped global political economies at a massive human and economic cost, while failing to curb usage or trafficking. In recent years, piecemeal legalization of marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms, the integration of MDMA and ketamine into pharmacological research and various therapeutic modalities, and the opioid crisis spillover from doctors offices to city streets have further frayed the already blurred distinctions between legal and illegal drugs. Especially since the middle of the twentieth century, drugs have also been deeply intertwined with American art and cultural production, with all manner of media, youth culture, nightlife, spiritual and religious practices and even sports entangled with, enhanced by, and responsive to substances. In this course we focus on three impulses that drive drug use in the contemporary moment; the desire to expand or alter consciousness, to sharpen, heighten and optimize the mind and body, and to escape from the body and the world. While these impulses might be neatly segmented into archetypes like the hippie/psychonaut, office worker/student and junkie/slacker, we will explore the sometimes surprising overlaps and bleed between these different visions, reflected, for example, by the South American psychedelic ayahuasca's spread in America from countercultural ceremonies for mind-expansion to quick fix wellness retreats for tech workers. This course is focused on the American experience, while grounded in an increasingly global context, and takes neither a judgemental nor celebratory orientation to drug use. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS SOC |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: SOC151 |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (Sociology) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
| Instructor(s): Haber,Benjamin Times: ..T.R.. 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: BOGH114; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 17 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 2 | FR: 1 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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