1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«This thesis examines the social reaction to PCP through an analysis of the national news. [It] traces the roots of public attention to the PCP issue and the evolution of PCP’s cultural image.» (p. iii)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«The primary sources used in the research of this thesis include examples of newspaper, periodical, and television news coverage. The newspaper reporting is the best represented of these three [with] 650 articles that mentioned PCP between 1969 and 1986 […] I [also] studied ten articles from periodical magazines [and] I examined six television newscasts on PCP […]. Finally, I analyzed one made-for-TV documentary on PCP, entitled Angel Death.» (p. 4)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu
Réflexion critique

3. Résumé

«The first section focuses on the dramatic media representations of PCP as a cause of violence and madness in its users. I argue that despite the sympathetic manner in which PCP users were often portrayed, media depictions of crazed and violent users dehumanized their subjects and contributed to a stigmatization, not so much of drug use, but of madness. The second section focuses on media images of youth PCP use. Situating the PCP issue in the context of shifting American attitudes to drugs, I argue that images of young PCP users as victims contributed to the re-emergence in the late-1970s of a pervasive intolerance of drug use.» (p. iii) Ce mémoire met en lumière les réactions parentales par rapport à la consommation de PCP. Deux réactions principales ressortent: l’une vise à entourer son enfant d’amour en axant l’intervention autour de la discussion; la deuxième cherche à accroître le contrôle sur le jeune en prévoyant notamment de sévères réprimandes.