Addiction Careers PDF

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.
net/publication/12832122
Addiction Careers and Careers in Addiction
Article in Substance Use & Misuse · October 1999

DOI: 10.3109/10826089909039412 · Source: PubMed
CITATIONS READS
16 159
1 author:
Harald Klingemann
Bern University of Applied Sciences
133 PUBLICATIONS 1,197 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
Reduced Risk Drinking as a therapeutic objective View project
Treatment systems View project
All content following this page was uploaded by Harald Klingemann on 23 May 2014.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Substance Use & Misuse, 34(1l), 1505-1526,1999
Addiction Careers and Careers in

Subst Use Misuse Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences on 02/17/13
Addiction
Harald K.-H. Klingemann
Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problems, PO Box 870, CH-1001
Lausanne, Switzerland. Telephone: lnt-41-21-321 2 9 55. FAX: lnt-4 1-21-321 2 9 40.
E-mail: hklingemann@ sfa-ispa.ch
ABSTRACT
Research into resocialization of criminals or into recovery from sub-

For personal use only.
stance dependence has stressed the need to give up the deviant identity
and lifestyle. However, addiction careers, crime, and other types of de-
viant behavior require a wide range of skills. Such competence may
facilitate the alternative or simultaneous pursuit of “respectable” careers
in treatment, prevention, research, or policy matters. Former alcoholics
fill important positions in the service structures of Alcoholics Anony-
mous, current or former users are appreciated as partners in AIDS pre-
vention programs, and drug addicts can become privileged-access inter-
viewers and be recruited by research institutes. The paper discusses
“market conditions” that favor or impede career shifts. How society and
professionals perceive individuals with a history of stigma varies from
complete rejection to admiration or recognition of usefulness. This as-
sessment depends on such factors as degree of political and scientific
interest in controlling, changing, and detecting hidden deviant popula-
tions, as well as public fascination with “authentic” deviants, combined
with increasing scepticism about conventional expert knowledge.
Key words. Respectable and deviant careers; Individual change; Two-

world lifestyles; Role of the “professional-ex”; Insider knowledge
1505
Copyright 0 1999 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. www .dekker.com

1506 KLINGEMANN
DEVIANT AND “RESPECTABLE” CAREERS
Most people hope to have learned from their past, from their negative and
positive experiences, to help them for their future, but few believe that this also
holds true of criminals, addicts, and other deviants. These are expected to distance
themselves completely from their previous lives in deep repentance, to abandon
their “old criminal personality” in resocialization, or to comply with treatment,

thus destroying their addicted egos and forming completely new personalities, fit
to live drug-free lives. In a climate when moral entrepreneurs have launched drug
wars, it may seem odd to regard the lives of addicts as careers that may enable
them to pursue “respectable” lifestyles. The much broader and neutral concept
of “status-changing career,” initially borrowed from occupational sociology
(Daheim, 1977; Becker, 1952, Hall, 1948) and adopted in the sociology of devi-
ance (e.g., in the context of labeling approach; Becker, 1963), has often been
narrowed in addiction research to refer only to the individual escalation of sub-
stance use, with mainly negative connotations (Hunt, 1997).
The literature has so far failed to recognize the wide variety of career lines
open to addicts. Apart from the work of Adler and Adler (1963) on the phasing
out and transition of drug-dealer careers, and studies on natural recovery processes
(Blomqvist, 1996), the discussion has been limited to the “professional ex” in the
AA-dominated American treatment sector (Brown, 1991a).

Not only is there no cross-cultural description of the various avenues open
to addicts to pursue careers, but also the discussion suffers more specifically from
three draw backs or “blind spots.”
Although some of the studies mentioned above recognize that former devi-
ant roles evolve into conventional lifestyles, they nevertheless deal only with
the process of giving up such roles (see also Ebaugh, 1988). The possibility
of following deviant and respectable careers in public simultaneously and a
growing trend in many societies of recognition and appreciation of the “en-
titlements of stigma” (Gusfield, 1982) in areas other than treatment are rela-
tively new. There have so far been no descriptions of career options that have
taken account of cultural variations in the perception of drug problems.
Experience acquired during a deviant career has been regarded only from the
individual perspective for its usefulness in stabilizing the former addict in a
new role by “censoring identity-threatening information” and transforming
the deviant past into “higher learning” superior to formal training (Brown,
199lb: 172, 173). How specific skills acquired during pre-professional so-
cialization in deviance are used in professional practice, and not only to pre-
vent relapse, needs to be explored further.
The need to maintain expertise in deviance in order to live up to the expec-
tations of respectable careers and avoid being discredited in the deviant sub-
ADDICTION CAREERS AND CAREERS IN ADDICTION 1507
culture by being involved with the world of conformity at the same time may
lead to role conflict-an aspect that so far has not been described or analyzed
in this context.
This paper categorizes and reviews “respectable job market opportunities”
in treatment, advocacy, prevention, and research against this theoretical back-
ground, with examples from various countries. It also speculates on societal con-
ditions that favor or impede respectable careers, such as changing public opin-
ion, or a lessening of the stigma attached to “drug abuse,” or the interest of
governments in formulating well-informed policies on the control of drug use.
MAKING GOOD USE OF DEVIANCE? SPECIFIC CAREER

LINES AND CHANGING JOB-MARKETS FOR ADDICTS
Career choices and career mobility will first depend, inter alia, on the gen-
eral state of the labor market, expectations of the addict, and specific recruitment
strategies. On the supply side, the subjective evaluation of intrinsic job incentives,
knowledge of job opportunities, and an appraisal of the opportunity costs of
changing careers come into play (e.g., Toman and Savickas, 1997).
More specifically, the following theoretical dimensions are used as a basis
for the categorizatioddiscussion of various types of career where addicts can

directly or indirectly use skills they have acquired in their individual or organized
deviant activities:
1. Regulation of accedadmission criteria concerning the relative importance
of formal training or skills compared with pre-professional informal (devi-
ant) socialization. More specifically this paper considers the role of profes-
sional “gatekeepers” (e.g., Goode, 1960) and the varying value accorded to
experience in former or current use of drugs or alcohol.
2. Stability of careers is a dimension introduced by Wilensky who claimed that
only the anticipation of future rewards and career steps over time assured role
conformity and career motivation (Wilensky, 1960). Best and Luckenbill
(1994) used the notion of the “orderly vs disorderly” nature of deviant and
respectable careers. More generally, the subjective career approach is based
on the actor’s recognition and interpretation of past and future events asso-
ciated with a particular identity (Stebbins, 1970). The discussion of career
fields therefore highlights such aspects as “job security over time” and the
individual’s “awareness of career dynamics.”
3. Costshenejits of career alternatives may be of an intrinsic nature (e.g., de-
gree of autonomy permitted when supervised by professionals, prestige of
the occupational field, “staying current” with one’s own recovery needs) or
they may be extrinsic (e.g., income, professional health-related risks, and
1508 KLINGEMANN
sponsoring support to secure career options). Respectable and deviant careers

can be compared; differential opportunities to achieve one’s objectives by
legitimate and illegitimate means arise accordingly (Cloward and Ohlin,
1960).
4. Size andfuture of job markets; that is, the number of job openings, the like-
lihood of the industries attracting “experts in deviance,” and the estimation
of future trends toward the “normalization” of deviance, including public

interest in or tolerance of addictive behavior. Rough estimates are based on
a review of the international literature.
Treatment
Former addicts as helpers or therapists are probably the most common ex-
amples of the professionalization of a career in addiction. They represent a no-
table share of the staff of counseling services and inpatient institutions in the treat-
ment systems of many countries. In Switzerland, for example, 29% of the
drug-user-treatment facilities reported having employed former drug-users
(Muhle, 1994). This percentage is much higher in countries where treatment ser-
vices are mostly privately owned and treatment resources are scarce. In general,
the rise of self-help movements and their relations with professional treatment
systems considerably expand access to “helping careers.” On the basis of their

study of Alcoholics Anonymous in eight societies, Makela et al. (1996) describe
four AA careers which members may undertake:
A local service career (e.g., work with newcomers, serving on intergroup
committees and as a link between AA and local treatment-centers)
Careers in a high-level service structure (especially in countries with several
layers of organizations, such as Mexico and the United States)
Conference or platform speakers (substituting for the lack of larger open AA
conferences in some countries)
Counseling in a 12-Step treatment program
AA as a social movement has always advocated better access to specialized
institutional treatment. For example, former alcoholics established the first two
treatment centers in the United States (Pioneer House and Hazelden) in 1948, and
AA members set up two treatment institutions in Iceland soon after the first AA
group was founded (Miikela et al., 1996: 194, 195). In the 1970s, 12-Step treat-
ment, especially the Hazeldon Minnesota model which relies on former alcoholics
(alcohol counselors) as staff members, became the major modality of alcohol
misuser treatment in America, both public and private (Weisner and Morgan,
1992) and spread to Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and other countries. 12-Step
treatment is also used for other conditions such as gambling, eating disorders, and
surviving incest, and this creates career opportunitiesfor other recovering patients
besides former alcoholics.
These examples suggest promising career avenues for former addicts in treat-
ment. However, unless they are self-employed or in treatment facilities that they
have themselves set up, they are subject to working conditions imposed by pro-
fessional gatekeepers. Thus, though recovering alcoholics hold key positions in
treatment facilities, an AA apprenticeship is rarely a sufficient qualification for

appointment. 12-Step programs employ physicians, psychologists, nurses, and
alcoholism counselors who are all also recovering alcoholics but at the same time
have very different levels of formal training and pay (Makela et al., 1996). Treat-
ment professionals not connected to AA-type programs tend even more to accord
formal training and prerequisites with priority over “having been one of them”
in admitting ex-addicts to their guild.
What are the individual risks to former addicts who pursue a treatment ca-
reer? Do they help themselves in helping others?
If the qualification for being a counselor in a 12-Step program requires ad-
herence to AA principles and lifelong abstinence, it can be assumed that the in-
dividual will strive to maintain and even increase commitment to these conditions.
However, job stability is contingent on these precise conditions. More concretely,
a return to controlled drinking or deciding against lifelong identity as a “recov-
ering xy” is equivalent to loss of the job. The functioning of an ex-addict faced
with the demands of a paid job are precarious: Exposure of ex-addicts as thera-
pists to the conditions of their former drug lives, combined with the continuous
availability of drugs, can destabilize their lives if they cannot draw upon some
professional safeguards. The integration of specific skills and abilities acquired
during the deviant career into the new professional role can be more or less suc-
cessful as narrative material from a Swiss “natural” recovery study illustrates.
Case 66, recovered for four years from problem heroin-use, worked for
several years as a helper in a harm-reduction programme before leav-
ing it: “I changed my job because the daily professional contact with the
fixer drug scene became closer and closer. . . images of the past came
back . . . being permanently confronted with drugs and current users the
temptation to resume increased . . . I had phantasies of going back to the
heroin, and became afraid of losing control.”
Case 214 trained as a drug counselor and began work in a therapeu-
tic community. He uses successfully his previous experiences as a
junkie: “Clients just cannot deceive me. I know them too well and if they
smuggle sugar into the house I simply can sense it because there is still
something that connects me with the patients.” At the same time he rec-
ognizes “earlier at some times I would have been lost without my train-
ing as a drug counselor. . . I was a different person then as a heroin
1510 KLINGEMANN
addict . . . now I have no trouble even touching and confiscating heroin.”

(Klingemann, 1996)
In both cases, a realistic appraisal of the circumstances of their work leads
to appropriate reactions and shows how their addiction careers and recovery ex-
periences have also prepared them to make the right decisions about their occu-
pation and to further their normalization.
Advocacy and Prevention
Whereas the classical treatment-career line requires giving up the deviant

lifestyle completely, it may not be necessary in the case of risk-reduction agents
or future activists in the politics of deviancy.
Since the early 1980s, organizations of injecting drug-users (IDU) have been
active in several countries, offering their members and clients various professional
or semiprofessional careers instead of, or as well as, their addiction careers. In
1980 in the Netherlands the junkibonden was founded, which served as a model
for “fixer unions” initiated in Germany in 1982 (Kaufungen, 1983) and later in
Switzerland (Junkie Bund Basel, 1996), and for user groups in Australia (Crofts
and Herkt, 1995: 601). In Canada a controversial antidrug bill in Ontario triggered
the formation of the country’s first unions of drug-users (Citizens on Drugs-A

Users’ Union) in 1994, FUN (Finally Understanding Narcotics), and ASAP (Ad-
diction, Support and Prevention) (see Wall, 1994; Kinross, 1994; Magner, 1996).
Most instructive is the case of Australia, where peer-based drug-user groups
have developed further than anywhere else (see the overview by Crofts and Herkt,
1995). The first user-groups were founded in 1986/87, advocating a policy reform
agenda that included the decriminalization of heroin use or-following the com-
munity development model-were related to personal drug-use issues. Their role
changed with the adoption of a harm-reduction policy in 1988 and, more specifi-
cally, the National HIV/AIDS strategy in 1989, which resulted in state and fed-
eral funding for such groups. Now, user communities, once notorious, had a pub-
lic and legal face and functioned as partners and counterparts of government
agencies and sponsors. The AIDS strategy “redefined the relationship between
government and IDUs. . . drug users were perceived. . . to be individuals with
a capacity to educate and be educated, to form organizations, to manage fund-
ing, to represent their community, to serve on governmental consultative com-
mittees, and employable in a variety of roles as drug users” (Crofts and Herkt,
1995: 602). Among other activities, the association publishes a newsletter writ-
ten largely by users, is associated with needle-exchange schemes, provides infor-
mation on HIV/AIDS and safe sex, and is focus-testing prevention material with
users from outside the organization. All in all, this represents a wide range of
career openings for drug users.
ADDTCTION CAREERS AND CAREERS IN ADDICTION 1511
However, as the organizational development of the New South Wales As-

sociation clearly shows, employment opportunities are subject to change and
related to the fundamental goal-conflict of user organizations, which have to re-
main viable and useful to their constituencies and at the same time maintain their
credibility and sources of funding at the government and policy level. The asso-
ciation underwent organizational change and a crisis when, under government
pressure in 1991, it gave up its preoccupation with the day-to-day problems of

street IDUs, emphasizing from then on matters of prevention and policy. The
intent of the organization to become more professional reduced career opportu-
nities of “heavy” street drug users. Because of this policy many injecting users
left the association, thus depriving it of much of the special know-how of cur-
rent users in the street, and undermining its privileged access to them, who in
effect thereby became target groups rather than interested partners. Recognizing
these problems, the association in 1993 restored its policy of employing inject-
ing users.
Discussions on this issue resembled the controversies on affirmative action
in seeking to achieve consensus on such issues as the ratio of current to former
users and nonusers, qualification criteria for a “peer” in outreach programs (e.g.,
would injecting steroids be a sufficient criterion to be the peer of a heroin user?),
compulsory drug testing to make sure that employees are still using drugs, or
dismissal of employees who gave up drug use after beginning work? (Palmer,
1992/93; Burrows, 1993: 9).
The case of the New South Wales Association shows that, as long as spe-
cial access and insider know-how are needed, current users can still be employed
on condition that they agree to maintain their level of expertise by continuous
drug-use and integration into subcultural target groups. However, it is not quite
clear whether, in the long run, drug users will be used only as tokens when pro-
fessionals are gradually taking over, and what will be the future of this job mar-
ket in different parts of the world. In Western European countries, peer support
as a method of risk reduction, or outreach-assisted peer-support models, are be-
ing promoted more and more. In Germany, government support for the inclusion
of users in AIDS prevention efforts is under discussion; the European Peer Sup-
port Project, launched in six countries, organizes training courses for drug users
and professionals, develops methods and models of outreach work for and by drug
users, and provides guidelines on “how to set up a self-organization for and by
users” (Trautmann, 1995). These jobs are clearly less attractive than the Austra-
lian “ideal type career” discussed earlier: “current drug user-voluntary helper
for the user organization-paid part-time outreach worker-representative as an
active user on a governmental committee.” It remains to be seen whether the
stronger influence of official health policymakers and planners and health-care
professionals will also ensure funding schemes that are more stable (and there-
1512 KLLNGEMANN
fore a more stable job situation for deviants active in these projects) than those
provided in response to the more independent, politically less convenient, user
organizations.
Research
In ethnography the use of “key informants” or “gatekeepers” to gain access

to unfamiliar tribes has a long tradition. In studying the hidden worlds of delin-
quent populations such as drug users, the anthropologist researcher depends even
more on “cultural brokers” who are members of the target group. They act as
consultants to the researcher before fieldwork begins, relay information about
planned project to the target group, vouch for the fieldworkers’ trustworthiness,
and help in the frst phase of their immersion in the subcultural group. After these
tasks have been successfully achieved, the cultural broker serves at most as a
resource person if the researcher unexpectedly gets into difficult or dangerous
situations in the course of the fieldwork. Cultural brokers are typically recruited
through personal contacts of the investigator, do unpaid volunteer work, and may
receive partial “credit” under code names in subsequent publications (e.g., Moore,
1993).
However, employment opportunities in recent years for former and current

users have arisen which have gone beyond occasional cooperation with research-
ers. The need to collect information about a large number of drug users who are
not in treatment, for evaluation purposes and in relation to harm minimization,
could not be met with the time-consuming and work-intensive classical anthro-
pological approach described above. Instead, the so-called “privileged access
interviewer” (PAI) method has been increasingly used, which seems suitable
“when the research agenda requires a structured instrument be administered over
a short period of time, to a large number of drug users, inhabiting different so-
cial networks within a particular locality” (Griffiths et al., 1993: 1620). For this
purpose, interviewers are expected to have access to and contacts with the study
population and to be able to conduct interviews successfully.
For a study of drug users in south London, mostly former or current users
were employed.The 23 PAIs attended a training session, conducted one interview
on a trial basis, and signed a contract undertaking to treat interview information
confidentially, not to enter dangerous situations, not to falsify interviews, and not
to arrive at the project center intoxicated; they received cash payment for the
interviews and expenses were paid (Griffiths et al., 1993: 1621,1622). PAIs have
been employed under similar conditions in other countries such as Switzerland,
and the method has been further evaluated with regard to, inter alia, the job pro-
file and performance of the interviewers (Kuebler and Hausser, 1997).
On the basis of experience with the PAI approach, Power (1995: 170) indi-
cates promising roles for indigenous field-workers in the research field other than
indigenous interviewer. The contact tracer contacts target samples and puts them
in touch with the project researcher, and the community guide orientates and
guides researchers through specific areas and networks and explains functions and
locations. While these activities resemble those of the cultural broker-but car-
ried out on a wider scale and for payment, the indigenous observer can inform
researchers of trends in drug use and behavior patterns pertinent to changing re-
search goals.
The range of potential roles in research for former or current drug users is
impressive at first sight; however, a number of pros and cons have come to light
from experience in indigenous fieldwork.
Extrinsicjob satisfaction: The activities mentioned above require at best only
part-time work, with the employment rights and benefits of full-time staff or
staff on permanent contracts, except for the indigenous observer who would
benefit from contract employment on a continuous basis. However, as
Griffiths et al. (1993: 1622) point out, “many interviewers would not wish
to have a permanent or more time-consuming relationship with our organi-
zation. Their commitments and lifestyles often made full-time or long-term
employment unattractive.”
Intrinsic job satisfaction is relatively high among indigenous field-workers;
contacts with researchers and research centers can be a source of personal

prestige.
Opportunities of career shifts: It can be assumed that even part-time employ-
ment as an indigenous interviewer may serve in some cases as a stepping-
stone to more conventional activities and careers, thus facilitating the exit of
current users from their addiction careers. There is no empirical evidence on
this point so far, but Griffiths et al. (1993: 1622) note that some interview-
ers were supplied with references and subsequently obtained full-time em-
ployment
The occupational risks for the former or current user as an employee seem
at first to be limited. But all risks of hardships which the researcher as an an-
thropologist used to assume personally, such as being exposed to violence,
witnessing illegal acts, trouble with the police, and long-term heavy involve-
ment in fieldwork where one has to get one’s hands dirty (Moore, 1993: 22,
23), have now been transferred to the indigenous field-worker. Besides, they
are pushed by the now desk researchers to stretch the limits of their creden-
tials in their constituency, as the assigned task of collecting saliva samples
in the English study clearly shows (Griffiths et al., 1993: 1622).
The relationship between professional researcher and indigenous field-work-
ers will possibly become more competitive in the future. In the English and
the Swiss studies, the high involvement and excellent motivation of the field-
workers are praised and researchers are surprised by their professionalism and
1514 KLINGEMANN
behavior as quasi-research-assistantswho even participated in the pretest and

reformulation of instruments (Griffiths et al., 1993: 1623, 1624; Kuebler and
Hausser, 1997: 328). There may be only a small margin between this first
positive reaction and taking precautions that indigenous field-workers will
not “step over the line”--e.g., by excluding them from functions which drug
users might occupy at the expense of trained professionals in the future.
The overall rating of this career sector tends to be rather positive; career
instability, low pay, and high occupational risks are balanced by flexibility of
employment schedules, the occupational prestige of being in touch with science,
intrinsic rewards, and support for career shifts. Its future depends largely on de-
mand for qualitative research in general and interest in program evaluation in
particular.
Organized Crime and Drug Business Careers
For deviants the appeal of the parallel or alternative respectable careers

mentioned so far depends also on access to and the cost:benefit ratio of deviant
careers that are typically pursued in formal organizations, which are the most
sophisticated form of the social organization of deviants (as against working alone
or with “colleagues,” peers, or teams). Best and Luckenbill (1994: 12,61) men-
tioned large street gangs, outlaw motorcycle clubs, organized mafia-crime fami-
lies, and drug distribution networks as examples of highly differentiated career
patterns in which a member starts out as a “runner,” moves up to the positions
of “controller,” “district controller,” “manager,” “banker,” and so on. Expressed
more generally: “a deviant formal organization may have special departments for
planning, processing goods, public relations and rule enforcement, with positions
for strategists, coordinators, accountants, lawyers, enforcers and dealers in illicit
goods” (Best and Luckenbill, 1994: 54). Our knowledge of career characteristics,
mobility, and career shifts is very limited for the obvious reason of the clandes-
tine nature of these organizations. But, even more important, apart from the more
“practical” reason of difficult field-access, is the stigma that the political estab-
lishment attaches to drug dealing as an incarnation of evil which has discredited
and discouraged-at least to some extent-a more analytical and objective de-
scription and evaluation of career avenues in this domain. This is almost ironi-
cal if one considers evidence that organized crime has gained a symbiotic posi-
tion within many political jurisdictions, and the dividing line between
“respectable” and deviant careers becomes more and more blurred. Lupsha’ s
analysis of the industry in Mexico shows that transnational organized crime and
narco power are attempting to operate directly in public and private sector board-
rooms with cabinet level staff and secretaries to plan and coordinate activities for
mutual benefits, development, and free trade (Lupsha, 1995). Recent books on
transnational organized crime and the illicit drug industry (Clawson and Lee 111,
1996; Stares, 1996) provide interesting insights into the “global drug market” and
its changing modes of operation (e.g., decentralization of the Andean cocaine
industry) but fail to describe the occupational mobility and career lines of the
individual actors systematically.
The work of Adler and Adler (1983: 196, 197) on dealing and smuggling as
an occupation, based on the observation of 65 cases between 1974 and 1980, is

one of the few studies on the shifts and dynamics of such deviant careers. These
authors distinguish between the entry of regular drug-users to the position of low-
level dealers and the (most frequent) drifting in of middle-level entrants from
nightwork or irregular work. The former began this career early, on the basis of
personal experience in the drug scene only, hardly ever moved up to become top-
level dealers because they “started small and thought small,” and found it hard
to establish social connections with the upper levels. The latter were older, came
from other occupations, and received on-the-job training, which enabled them to
compete more successfully for upper-level positions.
According to Adler and Adler (1983: 201), chances of phasing out the ca-
reer, or of career shifts, depend on 1) the subjective evaluation of the pleasures
or troubles of the fast life as a dealer, 2) the strength of the personal commitment
to drug trafficking as an occupation, and 3) the perceived availability of alterna-
tive livelihoods. The first two points address the effects of a full-time, long-last-
ing deviant career. The enjoyment of power, sex, and money comes at the cost
of increasing professional fatigue when aging in the career: “The frenzy of
overstimulation and resulting exhaustion hastened the process of burnout. . . as
dealers aged in the career they became more sensitized to the extreme risks they
faced.” The work of Morgan and Joe (1996: 137) on women in the illicit drug
economy illustrates the role of professional commitment, pride, and “ethics” (e.g.,
selling only high-quality drugs, protection of the home environment) and points
to the incorporation of control as a dealing strategy: “For many women (amphet-
amine) dealers. . . the illicit drug business . . . allowed them to choose their
friends, to control their lifestyle, and to maximize their talents relative to their
resources.” In this case, though the drug-dealing careers of these women spanned
several decades, their integration into a normal lifestyle seemed to counterbal-
ance the bum-out described earlier and lowered the pressure to give up the devi-
ant career altogether.
As to the third factor in the phasing out of deviant careers-the availability
of alternative careers-the early study by Adler and Adler (1983) based on the
situation in the late 1970s showed that when trying to give up their deviant ca-
reers, dealers and smugglers either returned to occupations they had previously
pursued or changed their front business, maintained on the side while dealing, into
a legal main business, or took up entirely new occupations: dealers “exchanged
1516 KLINGEMA”
their illegal commodity for a legal one and went into import/export, wholesaling,
or retailing merchandise” (p. 203).
Today a few new career lines for dealers have emerged, e.g., becoming a
successful cannabis dealer. Like the field of advocacy and prevention, these ca-
reer lines are also connected with changes in general drug policy, as the example
of the Netherlands shows.
The emergence of the so-called “coffee-shops” in the Netherlands, where

limited amounts of cannabis products may be purchased without legal recrimi-
nation, has opened career avenues for entrepreneurs working and earning their
living in the cannabis supply and distribution network. In 1995, official numbers
indicated about 1,200 “coffee-shops” and some other 900 outlets in the country
(cannabis dealers in community centers and private houses). Even though under
pressure from the European Union and France in particular, the government has
tried since 1991 to restrict the extension of this network, it still represents a pros-
pering business. Partly because the European Court does not allow the Dutch
Ministry of Finance to impose sales taxes on the “coffee-shop business,” they
make high profits, estimated at about US$160 million annually (Derks et al.,
1998). However, in the absence of de facto legalization, the pursuit of such a
career is still contingent upon subcultural memberships.
These last examples refer to changes in the area of dealer careers; the future
of such careers depends on the course that drug-control policies will take. If, as
with cannabis, the push toward legalization continues, markets will also be nor-
malized and the subcultural knowledge or wisdom of deviance will become su-
perfluous. Consequently, drug users would have only a slight chance of obtain-
ing positions in future state drug/alcohol monopolies, while familiarity with
customer preferences in the retail business might still complement a good pro-
fessional training in marketing.
DISCUSSION
Summary Table 1 gives an overview of the various occupations for addicts

discussed so far. It includes an approximate rating of career characteristics such
as job riskshenefits and admission criteria. Of course, this should be substanti-
ated by empirical data and research with examples from other social problems.
Except for the treatment field, all other occupations offer mostly temporary work
with numerous occupational risks. But they are open to former and current us-
ers, and they require only basic on-the-job training and the acceptance of rules
on the limitation of drug use at work.
Deviant and “respectable careers” have increasingly converged. In times of
high unemployment and deregulated economies, this bureaucratic image of “or-
derly respectable careers” (Best and Luckenbill, 194: 231) seems, in contrast to
Table 1.
Career Opportunities for the Addict-Literature-Based Estimates
Costmenefits of career alternatives

Job
(+ = him = medium/- = low)
Professional
Career fields Jobs (career lines) examples Regulation of access/admission criteria risks Stability Income Prestige Size and future job markets
Treatment Local service AA counselor Ex-usedaddict NNAA membership timdold timer None - - 0 Large Excellent in North America (if
AA service structure position None - - + abstinence paradigm remains
AA conference/platform speaker None 0 - + unchallenged)
12-Step counselor Formal courses None + + +
Other counselor/therapist Formal training Low + + + Medium Restricted (professional
gatekeepers)
Advocacy and User-group activist employee Ex + current Basic training Low 0 0 0 Medium Good perspectives in Europe
prevention Networker-group founder (but not on Low - - + Small and Australia
Peer-support outreach worker the job) Medium - - 0 Medium European Union policy
ConsultanUeditor of prevention Training on the job Low 0 + + Small
materials
Research Indigenous interviewer Ex + current Training courses “stable Medium - 0 0 Medium Good except for USA (drug-free
(privileged access inter- (but not on lifestyle” workplace employment
viewer) the job) policy)
Contact tracer (”cultural Medium - 0 0
broker”)
Community guide Medium - 0 0
Indigenous advocate Low 0 0 + (Future job)
Indigenous observer Low + + +
Organized Drug dealer/smuggler Ex + current Rising through the ranks of High (-/+/-) Large Stable if policies unchanged
crimeldrug dealing or “nightlife-job
business experience”
Responsible dealer (house Business ethics; cooperation High (-/+/0) Small Good except for USA if harm-
dealer) with public agencies reduction accepted
Cannabis seller (“coffee-shop” Mostly ex Capital funds Low (0/+/0) Medium Legalization trend may increase
owner) security and reduce profits
Cannabis growerlfarmer Low (0/+/0) Medium
1518 KLINGEMANN
“disorganized fluid deviant careers,” nostalgic. Researchers on “soft” money,

personnel of treatment services threatened by downsizing, street workers being
replaced by volunteers, free-lance writers, and workers in small enterprises strug-
gling for survival no longer follow “respectable careers.” Accordingly, the alle-
gation of exploitation of deviants in new career fields must be put in perspective.
More concretely, first indications that some of these jobs may eventually lead to
further career shifts and facilitate giving up the deviant career have to be system-
atically pursued. Double careers can be interesting for deviants who do not want
to give up their lifestyle but nevertheless wish to maintain links with the “nor-
mal” working world. They benefit from a basic income and flexible working
arrangements, appreciation on the part of the employer, and access to useful in-
formation on treatment and health services. Examples of partially failed attempts
to move permanently under objectively good conditions to respectable careers
from the areas of treatment and entertainment have been presented and discussed
with respect to the notion of a subjective career.
The future development of career opportunities in the various fields will
depend mainly on 1) changing legal and social definitions of specific types of
deviance, 2) the appreciation of “insider life experience” vs “organized expert
knowledge,” and 3) the discussion on public health and policy.
1. How deviance is dealt with in the public arena will favor or impede career
shifts and the possible marketing of deviant experience. Countries differ
greatly as regards fear of crime and the condemnation of drug use as evil.
These general societal conditions can discredit or encourage efforts to estab-
lish careers for deviants-for instance, in advocacy (positive example,
Australia) or treatment. Data from studies on natural recovery from problem
substance use point out that even after quitting, spontaneous remitters are still
often seen as unstable and prone to relapse. In a Swiss study it was shown
that subjects who successfully gave up heroin use suffered in subsequent
years much more from negative, nonsupportive reactions of their social en-
vironment than an alcohol comparison group. Follow-up data showed, on the
contrary, that heroin cases proved to be much more stable than alcohol cases,
who demonstrated a much higher relapse rate (Klingemann, 1992: 1996).
This illustrates how problem-specific patterns of societal discrimination in-
teract with coping styles and points out strains from “the public climate of
opinion” for the careers and lifestyle options of the “professional ex.”
2 . The evaluation of “insider life experience” vs “organized expert knowledge”
is also subject to change. A tendency by professionals in the field to require
formal training in addition to the deviant experience to qualify as an addic-
tion counselor can serve as an example of the partial depreciation of personal
experience in deviance. Besides, the belief that the personal deviant experi-
ence leads to a unique understanding and knowledge of the target group,
which a noninitiated outsider could never hope to acquire, could be ques-

tioned in the future. The debate on the strengths and weaknesses of “insider”
vs “outsider” in ethnography is in principle still open. However, in preven-
tion and research the former perspective still prevails (Payne-Jackson and
Corsica, 1997). Career chances for ex-addicts in the frequently mentioned
treatment sector also depend on structural features of drug-user-treatment
systems: Client groups have become more heterogeneous, including top-level

management cocaine users as well as street junkies, airline pilots under the
influence, as well as vagrant alcoholics, gamblers, and ‘love addicts.” This
heterogeneity contrasts with the treatment response in countries character-
ized by a single, static, homogeneous goal (typically abstinence). This para-
dox leads to a strained system in which community “demands” by a dynamic
heterogeneous population are not sufficiently met by official treatment pro-
grams, and can only be compensated by tolerating interventions by ex-ad-
dicts who continue to live in a marginalized position themselves. This makes
it possible for professionals not to have to be involved in the “field.” Semi-
legal needle distribution schemes in the United States may serve as an ex-
ample. Therefore it can be assumed that treatment systems with a low de-
gree of differentiation in terms of programs and outcome objectives will
sponsor mainly ex-addicts careers in line with the prevailing treatment phi-
losophy (e.g., abstinence: 12-Step). At the same time, the complex “field”
of “deviant” treatment demands which are not in line with the current para-
digm is left to ex-addicts and private organizations, often “ghettoized’ and
kept at a distance from conventional society. Recent decisions in the United
States not to use federal funding for harm reduction activities on the local
level reflect this “double-standard’’ as well.
Seen from a broader perspective, countries which adopt a whole range
of treatment objectives and programs (see the overview of Klingemann and
Hunt, 1998) will open up a wide variety of careers for ex-addicts, but these
careers are subject to different types of strain. In many countries the grow-
ing importance of private ownership in drug-user-treatment in general has
triggered a wide discussion on the “quality of care.” Professionals are con-
cerned about the cheaper and more dynamic competition from the private
sector which also includes the creative use of ex-addicts and their deviant
expertise. This illustrates structural limits to the transfer of the various my-
thologies about the unique abilities of the visible abstinent-for-now lay thera-
pists.
3. In the discussion on career fields, the public-health and policy discourse
proved highly influential in the acceptance and use of deviant expertise.
Outreach programs in AIDS prevention and the broad programs of user
groups depend decisively on the harm-reduction model and a more general
1520 KLIN GEMANN
policy aimed at the definition and exploration of the social worlds of alco-
hol and illicit-drug use among hidden populations.
Only as long as there is political interest in gaining access to and influ-
encing subcultures and deviant groups will insider knowledge from these
worlds be valued and “indigenous scouts” needed. Moreover, the idea of
making deviant (“hard to reach”) hidden populations visible, so that they may
be counted and educated with the paid help of members of these same tar-
get groups, conveys the notion of political control. It basically raises the is-
sue of work ethics for addicts. Fitzgerald borrows in this context Michel
Foucault’s metaphor of the “gaze of power,” derived from the panopticon,
a circular prison which allows a single guard in the center to observe all in-
mates simultaneously (Foucault, 1979: 258). He discusses the role that de-
viant populations can play in this situation. Selling their deviant expertise on
the labor market and pursuing one or several of the careers discussed in this
paper, they ultimately would participate in the gaze of power. This could limit
choice of behavior or lifestyle but also help to avoid negative consequences
of drug use, which may not be in the interest of the public health authorities
and the illicit-drug user. The alternative would be resistance to the gaze of
power: drug users would choose not to participate in any kind of research or
cooperation with public or control agencies, even in professional or semipro-
fessional roles (Fitzgerald, 1996: 16, 17). This potential conflict becomes
most visible and concrete in regard to advocacy, as discussed earlier. Aus-
tralian user organizations fear losing their status if they no longer have a role
in combating AIDS and conclude that the government would not permit them
to play an influential role in policy formulation. Other instances, such as the
case of prisoner unions in Scandinavia fighting €or fundamental changes in
the prison system in the 1970s (Papendorf, 1977), have equally shown that
conformity with the political mainstream is another condition for
professionalizing deviant careers.
Future research needed includes the following.
Studies on the impact of two-world lifestyles on current or ex-deviants pro-
moting normalization or destabilization processes (e.g., relapse)
In-depth studies focusing on successful or failed transfers of specific skills/
abilities learned during previous “deviant socialization” to paid jobs in the
“straight” world
Cross-cultural surveys describing the role and occurrence of the phenomenon
of “ex” in treatment, prevention, research, and advocacy, and discussing the
recent acceptance of “dual careers” which do not imply quitting
Shedding more light on factors facilitating shifts from deviant to “respect-
able” careers or upward and downward mobility, especially in the field of
organized crime
A better understanding of societies’ discrimination or exploitation of experts

in deviancy, looking in particular at stereotyping by the media and public be-
liefs of changes for change (from eating disorders, problem heroin or alco-
hol use, or other types of deviant behavior), consequently defining deviants’
options of lifestyle changes
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author gratefully acknowledges comments from the reviewer on a pre-

vious version of this article; however, all responsibility for the content of this
article is with the author. Illustrating empirical material has been drawn from a
study supported by a grant from the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, Grant
8009, and the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Forderung der wissenschaft-
lichen Forschung, Grant 32-030 199.
REFERENCES
ADLER, P. A,, and ADLER, P. (1983). Shifts and oscillations in deviant careers: The case of up-
per-level drug dealers and smugglers. SOC. Probl. 31(2): 195-207.
BECKER, H.S. (1952). The career of the Chicago public school teacher. Am. J. Sociol. 57: 470-
477.
BECKER, H. S. (1963). Outsiders. New York, NY: Free Press.
BEST, J., and LUCKENBILL, D. F. (1994). Organizing Deviance. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-
Hall.
BLOMQVIST, J. (1996). Paths to recovery from substance misuse: Change of lifestyle and the role
of treatment. Substance Use Misuse 31(13): 1807-1852.
BROWN, J. D. (1991a). The professional ex-: An alternative for exiting the deviant career. SocioZ.
Q. 32(2): 219-230.
BROWN, J. D. (1991b). Preprofessional socialization and identity transformation. The case of the
professional ex-. J. Contemp. Ethnog. 20(2): 157-178.
BURROWS, D. (1993). Establishing and Maintaining Credibility as an Injecting Drug Users Group:
Street Cred Versus Professionalism. Paper presented at the IXth International Conference on
AIDS, Berlin, Germany, June.
CLAWSON, P. L., and LEE 111, R. S. (1996). The Andean Cocaine Industry. New York, NY: St.
Martin’s Press.
CLOWARD, R. A., and OHLIN, L. E. (1960). Delinquency and Opportunity. New York, NY: Free
Press.
CROFTS, N., and HERKT, D. (1995). A history of peer-based drug-user groups in Australia. J . Drug
Issues 25(3): 599-616.
DAHEIM, H. ( 1977). Berufssoziologie. In R. Konig (Ed.), Beruf-lndustrie-Sozialer Wandel in
unterenhvickelten Liindern. Stuttgart: Ferdinand Encke Verlag.
DERKS, J. T. M., HOEKSTRA, M., and KAPLAN, C. D. (1998). Integrating care, cure and con-
trol: The drug treatment system in the Netherlands. In H. Klingemann and G. Hunt (Eds.), Drug
Treatment Systems in an International Perspective: Drugs, Demons and Delinquents. Thou-
sand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
EBAUGH, H. R. F. (1988). Becoming an Ex: The Process ofRole Exit. Chicago, IL: University of
Chicago Press.
1522 KLINGEMANN
FITZGERALD, J. L. (1996). Hidden populations and the gaze of power. J. Drug Issues 26(1): 5-
22.
FOUCAULT, M. (1979). Dberwachen und Strafen: Die Geburt des GefZingnisses. Frankfurt am
Main: Suhrkamp.
GOODE, W. J. (1960). Encroachment, charlatanism, and the emerging profession: Psychology, so-
ciology, and medicine. Am. Sociol. Rev. 26: 902-914.
GRIFFITHS, P., GOSSOP, M., POWIS. B., and STRANG, J. (1993). Reaching hidden populations
of drug users by privileged access interviewers: Methodological and practical issues. Addic-
tion 88(12): 1617-1626.
GUSFIELD, J . (1982). Deviance in the welfare state: The alcoholism profession and the entitlements
of stigma. Res. SOC. Probl. Public Policy 2: 1-20.
HALL, 0. (1948). The stages of a medical career. Am. J. Sociol. 53: 327-336.
HUNT, D. E. (1997). A selected bibliography on the drug use(r) “career.” Substance Use Misuse
32(3): 283-291.
JUNKIE BUND BASEL (1996). Grundsatzpapier des Junkie Bund Basel. In Bundesamt fur
Gesundheitswesen (Ed.), Arzrliche Verschreibung von Betuubungsmitteln-Wissenscha~liche
Grundlagen und pruktische Erjfahrungen (pp. 126-129). Bern: Verlag Hans Huber.
KAUFUNGEN, M. ( 1983). Es werden Junkie-Bunde gegrundet. Zur Perspektive einer
Fixergewerkschaft. Kriminologisches J. 4 298-303.
KINROSS, I. (1994). Illegal drugs: Workplace bogeyman. J . : Addict. News Prof: 23(3): 1; 3.
KLINGEMA”, H. (1992). Coping and maintenance strategies of spontaneous remitters from prob-
lem use of alcohol and heroin in Switzerland. Int. J. Addicr. 27: 1359-1388.
KLINGEMANN, H. (1996). 4 Jahre spater: Genese und Stabilitat der Selbstheilungen von Alkohol-
und Heroinabhangigen im Kontrollgruppenvergleich. Wissenschaftlicher Endbericht an den

Schweizerischen Nationalfonds zur Forderung der Wissenschaft.
KLINGEMANN, H., and HUNT, G. (Eds.) (1998). Drug Treatment Systems in an International
Perspective: Drugs, Demons and Delinquents. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
KUEBLER, D., and HAUSSER, D. (1997). The Swiss Hidden Population Study: Practical and
methodological aspects of data collection by privileged access interviewers. Addiction 92(3):
325-334.
LUPSHA, P. A. (1995). Transnational narco-corruption and narco investment: A focus on Mexico.
Transnatl. Orgua. Crime J . l(1): 84-101.
MAGNER, M. (1996). Users’ groups plan conference-Goal is reducing harm from the “bottom up.”
J.: Addict. News Prof: 25(2): 1; 3.
MAKELA, K., ARMINEN, I., BLOOMFIELD, K., EISENBACH-STANGL, I., HELMERSSON
BERGMARK, K., KURUBE, N., MARIOLINI, N., OLAFSD6TTIR, H.,PETERSON, J. H.,
PHILLIPS, M., REHM, J., ROOM, R., ROSENQVIST, P., ROSOVSKY, H., S T E W S , S.,
SWIATKIEWICZ, G., WORONOWICZ, B., AND ZIELINSKI, A. (1996). Alcoholics Anony-
mous as a Mutual-Help Movement. Madison, W1: University of Wisconsin Press.
MOORE, D. (1993). Ethnography and illicit drug use: Dispatches from an anthropologist in the
“field.” Addicr. Res. l(1): 11-26.
MORGAN, P., and JOE, K. A. (1996). Citizens and outlaws: The private lives and public lifestyles
of women in the illicit drug economy. J. Drug Issues 26(1): 125-142.
MUHLE, U. (1994). REHA 2000. Gesamtschweizerische Planungsgrundlagen fur die
Weiterentwicklung der stationiiren Drogentherapie. Urs Muhle: Fachstelle fur Sozialarbeit im
Gesundheitswesen.
PALMER, T. (1992/93). Users, needle exchange and the national strategy. Natl. AIDS Bull. Decem-
ber/January.
PAPENDORF, K. (1977). Fur eine “Strategie der Negation.” Kriminologisches J. 9: 305-313.
PAYNE-JACKSON, A,, and CORSICA, I. (1997). Political correctness: Issues for native and non-
native evaluators. NAPA Bull. 17: 69-81.
POWER, R. (1995). A model for qualitative action research amongst illicit drug users. Addict. Res.
3(3): 165-181.
STARES, P. (1996). Global Habit: The Drug Problem in a Borderless World. Washington, DC:
Brookings Institution.
STEBBINS, R. A. (1970). Career: The subjective approach. Sociol. Q. 2: 3 2 4 9 .
TOMAN, S M., and SAVICKAS, M. L. (1997). Career choice readiness moderates the effects of
interest inventory interpretation. J. Career Assess. 5(3): 275-291.
TRAUTMANN, F. (1995). Peer support as a method of risk reduction in injecting drug-user com-
munities: Experiences in Dutch projects and the “European Peer Support Project.” J. Drug
Issues 25(3): 617-628.
WALL, R. (1994). Network unites injection users. J.: Addict. News Prof. 23(3): 1.
WEISNER, C., and MORGAN, P. (1992). Rapid growth and bifurcation: Public and private alco-
hol treatment in the United States. In H. Klingemann, J.-P. Takala and G. Hunt (Eds.), Cure,
Care, or Control-Alcoholism Treatment in Sixteen Countries. Albany, NY: State University
of New York Press.
WILENSKY, H. L. (1960). Work, careers, and social integration. Int. SOC. Sci. J . 12: 543-560.
RESUMEN
La investigacibn que trata de 10s problemas de resocializacibn de criminales y de

curacibn de drogadictos subraya con frecuencia la importancia de renunciar a 10s
estilos de vida desviantes y separarse por completo du su identidad desviante. Esta

perspectiva ignora sistemiticamente la amplia gama de aptitudes que son
necesarias para hacer carrera en la dependencia, el crimen o cualquier otro tipo
de comportamiento desviante. Son precisamente esas competencias las que se
proponen para cambiar, o eventualmente continuar, una carrera respetable en el
marco de la terapia, la prevencibn, la investigacibn o la politica. Nadie ignora que
antiguos alcoholicos ocupan con frecuencia cargos de responsabilidad en el sen0
de la organizacibn de 10s Alcohblicos Anbminos, a1 igual que 10s antiguos
drogadictos e incluso 10s consumidores actuales son particularmente apreciados
en tanto que colaboradores en 10s programas de prevenci6n del sida. Se revelan
tambikn excelentes asistentes de investigacibn integrados en el medio, con
frecuencia reclutados por 10s propios institutos de investigacibn.
Este articulo habla asimismo de las condiciones del mercado del trabajo que
pueden muy bien bloquear o favorecer las transiciones de carrera. La manera en
que 10s individuos estigmatizados son percibidos por la sociedad y 10s
profesionales puede variar desde el rechazo completo hasta la total admiracibn
o el simple reconocimiento du su utilidad. Ello dependera de factores tales como
el grado de inter& politico o cientifico para controlar, cambiar o descubrir a 10s
individuos desviantes ocultos; per0 t am b i b dependera de la fascination del
public0 por 10s desviantes authticos que a su vez se combina con un escepticismo
cada vez mayor hacia 10s expertos profesionales.
1524 KLINGEMANN
RESUME
La recherche traitant des problkmes de resocialisation des criminels ou de la

guCrison de personnes addictives souvent souligne l’importance de renoncer aux
styles de vie &viants et de se stparer complt%ementde son identit6 dkviante. Cette
perspective ignore systematiquement la vaste gamme d’aptitudes nkcessaires pour
faire carrikre dans la dCpendance, le crime ou tout autre type de comportement

dkviant. Ce sont justement ces competences qui pourront &treproposkes pour
changer ou Cventuellement poursuivre une carribre ‘respectable’dans le domaine
de la thtrapie, de la prkvention, de la recherche ou de la politique. Nu1 n’ignore
que d’anciens alcooliques occupent souvent des positions i responsabilitk au sein
de l’organisation des Alcooliques Anonymes, tout c o m e des ex-dependants, et
mCme des consommateurs actuels, sont particulikrement apprCciCs comme
partenaires dans les programmes de prevention du sida. 11s se rtvklent Cgalement
Ctre d’excellents ‘assistants de recherche’ intCgrCs au milieu, souvent recrutks par
les instituts de recherche.
Cet article parle des ‘conditions du marche du travail’ qui sont en mesure de
bloquer ou de favoriser les transitions de carribre. La manibre dont les individus
stigmatises sont p e r p s par la sociCtC et les professionnels peut passer du rejet
complet i l’admiration la plus totale ou i la reconnaissance de leur utilitC. Cette
estimation dkpendra de facteurs tels que le degre d’intkrCt politique ou scientifique

i contrbler, changer ou dCcouvrir les individus deviants cuch6s mais Cgalement
de la fascination du public I? l’bgard de deviants ‘authentiques’, le tout se
combinant avec un scepticisme croissant i l’tgard des experts professionnels.
RIASSUNTO
La ricerca sui problemi di reintegrazione sociale dei criminali o di guarigione di

personne tossicodipendenti sottolinea spesso l’importanza di rinunciare
completamente a stili di vita e a identiti devianti. Eppure, per far carriera nella
dipendenza, nella criminalitit o in tutt’altro comportamento deviante occorre
un’ampia gamma di attitudini. Sono appunto queste competenze che potranno
essere sollecitate per facilitare il cambiamento o favorire il proseguimento di una
carriera “rispettabile” nel campo della terapia, della prevenzione, della ricerca o
della politica. E’ risaputo infatti che ex alcolisti occupano spesso posizioni di
responsabiliti in sen0 all’organizzazione degli Alcolisti Anonimi; anche con-
surnatori attuali e ex tossicodipendenti sono particolarmente apprezzati come
partner nei programmi di prevenzione dell’AIDS e possono inoltre diventare,
grazie ai lor0 contatti, ottimi intervistatori reclutati dagli instituti di ricerca.
L’articolo tratta delle “condizioni del mercato” che favoriscono o
impediscono i cambiamenti di carriera. I1 mod0 in cui gli individui stigmatizzati
sono considerati dalla societii e dai professionisti va dal rifiuto completo
all’ammirazione totale o a1 riconoscimento della loro utilita. Questa opinione

dipendera da fattori quali il grado d’interesse politico o scientific0 ad esercitare
un controllo, cambiare o scoprire individui devianti nascosri, ma anche
dell’ammirazione del pubblico per devianti “autentici”, fattori che vanno di pari
passo con un crescente scetticismo nei confronti delle conoscenze convenzionali
degli esperti.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Forschung und Praxis in den Bereichen ‘Resozialisierung’und ‘Suchtbehandlung’

riicken meist einen Identitatswandel als Vorbedingung fur ‘Normalisierung’ oder
‘Ausstieg’ in den Vordergrund nach dem Motto: “Das Individuum streift den
devianten Lebensstil ab, ein neuer, besserer Mensch entsteht.” Dagegen steht die
Erkenntnis, dass die erfolgreiche Verfolgung devianter Karrieren als Bankrauber,
Drogenhbdler oder in anderen Sparten eine weite Bandbreite an Fiihigkeiten und
professioneller Expertise voraussetzt. Eben diese Qualifiiationen erleichtern die
alternative oder aber - eine neues Phanomen - die gleichzeitige Verfolgung
respektablerkonformer Karrieren auf den Feldern ‘Behandlung’, ‘Pravention’,
‘Forschung’ und ‘Lobbying’: So stehen ehemaligen Alkoholikern interessante
Positionen in der weltweiten Organisation der Anonymen Alkoholiker offen,
ehemalige und aktive Drogenkonsumenten sind wichtige Partner bei der

Entwicklung beziehungsweise Durchfuhrung von Aids-Praventionsprogrammen
und sie wirken als geschatzte Assistenten bei der Erforschung verdeckter Pop-
ulationen mit, welche sich klassischen Erhebungsmethoden entziehen.
Dieser Beitrag verdeutlicht die Arbeitsmarktbedingungen, welche solche
Karriereubergange begungstigen und neuerdings valorisieren. Die Einschatzung
des ‘devianten insider-Experten’ durch die Offentlichkeit und bezahlte Pro-
fessionelle reicht von AblehnudStigmatisierung iiber dessen Instrumentalisierung
(Ausbeutung?) bis hin zu heimlicher Bewunderung verbunden mit
gesellschaftlicher Anerkennung. Wie diese Reaktion im jeweiligen kulturellen,
geselschaftlichen Kontext nun ausfallt, hangt unter anderem vom politischen und
wissenschaftlichen Interesse an der Erfassung, Kontrolle und Beeinflussung
versteckter devianter Gruppen ab; andererseits spielt die Vermarktung
‘authentisch Devianter’ in der Offentlichkeit eine Rolle, welche durch eine
abnehmende Expertenglaubigkeit noch weiter Auftrieb erhalt.
1526 KLINGEMA”
THE AUTHOR
Harald K.-H. KIingemann, Switzer-
land, studied at Cologne University
(Germany), where he received the de-
gree of Doctor of Economics and So-
cial Science. He has taught at the Uni-

versity of Bonn, where he was a senior
researcher in criminology, and at the
Fachhochschule of Cologne. He is di-
rector of research at the Swiss Institute
for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug
Problems (Lausanne). His main re-
search interests include the cross-
cultural analysis of treatment systems,
deviant careers, and the natural recovery process. He has co-edited Drug Treat-
ment Systems in an international Perspective: Drugs, Demons and Delinquents
(Sage Publications, 1998). Recent journals and book chapters include Drug treat-
ment in Switzerland: Harm reduction, decentralization and community response
(Addiction, 1996); Games, risk and prevention. The rehabilitation of “homo
ludens” (Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 1995); and Environmental

influences which support or impede change in substance behaviour (Oxford
University Press, 1994).
View publication stats

Addiction Careers PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Addiction Careers PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

Addiction Careers and Careers in Addiction

Article in Substance Use & Misuse · October 1999

Reduced Risk Drinking as a therapeutic objective View project

Treatment systems View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Addiction Careers and Careers in

Research into resocialization of criminals or into recovery from sub-

Key words. Respectable and deviant careers; Individual change; Two-

Copyright 0 1999 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. www .dekker.com

DEVIANT AND “RESPECTABLE” CAREERS

their “old criminal personality” in resocialization, or to comply with treatment,

AA-dominated American treatment sector (Brown, 1991a).

MAKING GOOD USE OF DEVIANCE? SPECIFIC CAREER

for the categorizatioddiscussion of various types of career where addicts can

sponsoring support to secure career options). Respectable and deviant careers

of future trends toward the “normalization” of deviance, including public

systems considerably expand access to “helping careers.” On the basis of their

treatment facilities, an AA apprenticeship is rarely a sufficient qualification for

addict . . . now I have no trouble even touching and confiscating heroin.”

Advocacy and Prevention

Whereas the classical treatment-career line requires giving up the deviant

the formation of the country’s first unions of drug-users (Citizens on Drugs-A

However, as the organizational development of the New South Wales As-

pressure in 1991, it gave up its preoccupation with the day-to-day problems of

In ethnography the use of “key informants” or “gatekeepers” to gain access

However, employment opportunities in recent years for former and current

contacts with researchers and research centers can be a source of personal

behavior as quasi-research-assistantswho even participated in the pretest and

Organized Crime and Drug Business Careers

For deviants the appeal of the parallel or alternative respectable careers

an occupation, based on the observation of 65 cases between 1974 and 1980, is

The emergence of the so-called “coffee-shops” in the Netherlands, where

Summary Table 1 gives an overview of the various occupations for addicts

Costmenefits of career alternatives

“disorganized fluid deviant careers,” nostalgic. Researchers on “soft” money,

which a noninitiated outsider could never hope to acquire, could be ques-

systems: Client groups have become more heterogeneous, including top-level

A better understanding of societies’ discrimination or exploitation of experts

The author gratefully acknowledges comments from the reviewer on a pre-

und Heroinabhangigen im Kontrollgruppenvergleich. Wissenschaftlicher Endbericht an den

La investigacibn que trata de 10s problemas de resocializacibn de criminales y de

estilos de vida desviantes y separarse por completo du su identidad desviante. Esta

La recherche traitant des problkmes de resocialisation des criminels ou de la

faire carrikre dans la dCpendance, le crime ou tout autre type de comportement

estimation dkpendra de facteurs tels que le degre d’intkrCt politique ou scientifique

La ricerca sui problemi di reintegrazione sociale dei criminali o di guarigione di

all’ammirazione totale o a1 riconoscimento della loro utilita. Questa opinione

Forschung und Praxis in den Bereichen ‘Resozialisierung’und ‘Suchtbehandlung’

ehemalige und aktive Drogenkonsumenten sind wichtige Partner bei der

cial Science. He has taught at the Uni-

ludens” (Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 1995); and Environmental

View publication stats

You might also like