Title |
Pursuing Pleasures of Productivity: University Students’ Use of Prescription Stimulants for Enhancement and the Moral Uncertainty of Making Work Fun
|
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Published in |
Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, May 2015
|
DOI | 10.1007/s11013-015-9457-4 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Margit Anne Petersen, Lotte Stig Nørgaard, Janine M. Traulsen |
Abstract |
This article presents ethnographic data on the use of prescription stimulants for enhancement purposes by university students in New York City. The study shows that students find stimulants a helpful tool in preventing procrastination, particularly in relation to feeling disinterested, overloaded, or insecure. Using stimulants, students seek pleasure in the study situation, for example, to get rid of unpleasant states of mind or intensify an already existing excitement. The article illustrates the notion that enhancement strategies do not only concern productivity in the quantitative sense of bettering results, performances, and opportunities. Students also measure their own success in terms of the qualitative experience of working hard. The article further argues that taking an ethnographic approach facilitates the study of norms in the making, as students experience moral uncertainty-not because they improve study skills and results-but because they enhance the study experience, making work fun. The article thereby seeks to nuance simplistic neoliberal ideas of personhood. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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United Kingdom | 1 | 25% |
Unknown | 3 | 75% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
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Scientists | 2 | 50% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 25% |
Members of the public | 1 | 25% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Canada | 1 | 1% |
Unknown | 91 | 99% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Bachelor | 20 | 22% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 12 | 13% |
Student > Master | 9 | 10% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 7 | 8% |
Researcher | 6 | 7% |
Other | 12 | 13% |
Unknown | 26 | 28% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Social Sciences | 20 | 22% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 12 | 13% |
Psychology | 11 | 12% |
Business, Management and Accounting | 5 | 5% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 5 | 5% |
Other | 13 | 14% |
Unknown | 26 | 28% |