IN SEARCH OF THE HIGH LIFE: Drugs, Crime, Masculinities and Consumption

Contemporary social theory draws our attention again to the role of consumption in the construction of the self. The project of constructing self-identity through consumption increasingly relies on global rather than parochial images and traditions, and often proceeds via mimicry. In this paper the biographical narratives of a group of young male offenders are used to explore some of the problems and possibilities of growing up male on the margins of civil society. It is suggested that drug use, drug dealing, and ‘normal’ crime serve as important cultural and emotive resources for scripting a particular, and powerful, masculine identity on the street. Thus, some conventional themes in delinquency theory are recast in the terms of modern social theory and cultural studies.