Addictions Are A Product Of Social Dislocation & Family Stress

Name Instructor Course Date Addictions are a Product of Social Dislocation and Family Stress Addiction is a common phenomenon in present day society. Addiction is developed by individuals as a coping mechanism to various life problems. This paper is a discussion of how social dislocation and family stress cause addiction. Social dislocation is caused by loss of employment, property and loved ones, assimilation into new cultures, conformity to societal stereotypes, hormonal changes among teenagers and misinterpretation of body scarring practices. The associated forms of addiction are alcoholism, drug and substance abuse, extreme dieting habits, excessive use of beauty products, bad eating habits and extreme body scarring practices. Loss of employment is an instance of social dislocation. Loss of employment by professionals is a common occurrence in today’s capitalist society. Legally, employment is supposed to be given on the grounds of merit and skills as dictated by the laws. “In order for a free market to be free, the exchange of land, labor, currency and consumer goods must be controlled by the laws of supply and demand” (Alexander and Shaler, 1). However, today’s job market has been jeopardized by fraudulent systems and leadership. Several non-constitutional acts are seen to compromise the basis on which employment is given. These include corruption, nepotism, personal loyalties and favoritism to mention but a few. This causes the qualified people to lose their jobs. Alcohol abuse is associated with loss of employment. An individual who has lost his job will develop depression due to financial security concerns for him and his dependents, especially his family. In most instances, the person in question is the bread winner of the family and this results in stress of the family as a whole. This person will turn to the abuse of alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with the social dislocation caused. Alcohol gives a momentary illusion that his problems are forgotten. The more the alcohol is consumed the longer this illusion lasts and as the body begins to adapt to a regular consumption of alcohol, the amount needed to create that illusionary feeling also increases. This compels the user to drink more and more alcohol to achieve the feeling. Eventually, the user becomes addicted to alcohol which has adverse mental and physical effects. In this manner, alcoholism as a form of drug abuse is fueled by the loss of employment as a form of social dislocation. Loss of property is another instance of social dislocation. When people lose their material possession, it is closely linked with losing their social status as well. For instance, if a rich land owner loses his land due to reasons such as displacement by the government or war, he relocates to a place where he lives as a squatter or an average person, a life he is not accustomed to. The free market society is characterized by instances of forced dislocation of individuals from their original settlements. For instance, in England, the country achieved a blooming market system between the 16th and 19th centuries. To achieve this, the middle class individuals and socially disadvantaged inhabitants were forcefully evicted from their farms and original settlements which were then ...