Sociology and Criminology

Drugs, Crime and Deviant Leisure

Module code: L3127B
Level 5
15 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Seminar
Assessment modes: Portfolio

This module examines the multifaceted concept of drugs and drug use. 

We’ll explore it as a cultural phenomenon, a public health issue, a challenge for policymakers, a criminal justice concern, and a form of transgressive or "deviant" leisure.

Discussions will be grounded in case studies of particular substances and the cultures and public conversations around them, from the highly stigmatised to the borderline legal.

Topics include:

  • local, global and online drug markets
  • the role of drugs in the night-time economy
  • public health and harm reduction approaches
  • drugs
  • criminal justice
  • race and class
  • the impact of international drug policy on drug-producing countries in the global South.

You’ll critically analyse various public health, legal, and law enforcement responses to drugs, examining their assumptions, outcomes, and the contested concept of "drugs" itself.

Module learning outcomes

  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of criminological and sociological theories relating to drugs, deviant leisure and their relationship to crime
  • Analytically apply criminological theory and research findings to current debates around drugs and crime
  • Employ macro and micro scales of analysis, from global drug markets and legislation to drug use and leisure practices in everyday life, and appreciate the connections between them
  • Critically evaluate key public health, policy and law enforcement responses to drugs in the UK and other policy jurisdictions