Of Others Inside: Insanity, Addiction and Belonging in America

Of Others Inside provides a new sociological understanding of the relationship between social exclusion and mental disability. Comparing mental disease and addiction, as well as two institutions set up to deal with both, Darin Weinberg shows with great insight and detail our treatment of the mentally ill and socially ostracized. Of Others Inside examines the way insanity became synonymous with other afflictions: homelessness, drug addiction, and alcoholism. He links this phenomenon with the transformation of addiction treatment from a redemptive process (through Alcoholics Anonymous and other quasi-religious social networks) to a punitive one, by showing the connection between addiction rehabilitation centres and the criminal justice system. Weinberg examines the general social condition of the homeless in the US, examining questions about American perceptions of poverty. Lastly, he offers an ethnography of one rehabilitation centre, Canyon House, and a sister organization, Twilights, and how they treat psychological problems and addictions among the homeless.Arguing that there is a middle ground in the debate about mental illness -- it is neither a social construct nor simply a medicalized condition -- Weinberg offers a combination of theoretical and ethnographic insight that will impact the way we understand our approaches to addiction, recovery, and social exclusion.

Table of Contents:
Foreword - Bryan S. TurnerAcknowledgments1. Introduction: Beyond Objectivism and Subjectivism in the Sociology of Mental HealthPart I. A History of Insanities and Addictions Among Marginalized Americans2. Setting the Stage3. Addictions and Insanities: Two Fields and Their PhenomenaPart II. A Tale of Two Programs4. Canyon House5. Twilights6. ConclusionReferencesIndex

About the Author :
Darin Weinberg teaches in the Department of Sociology at Cambridge University and is a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.

Review :
"Weinberg's book brazenly undertakes to explain the intersecting influences of mental disability, addiction and poverty. This is without doubt a complex, multi-faceted and daunting task, and one Weinberg succeeds at. .[I]t is written in a manner that mirrors the complexity of the issue under study.although the text is in-depth in nature, it simultaneously provides the reader with a clear understanding of its intents and variously synthesizes the multiple areas it covers..[A] fascinating account of ethnographic research." The Canadian Journal of Sociology Online "Of Others Inside is brilliant and fascinating. The author has done a commendable job charting the middle ground between the equally unsatisfying positions that mental illness and addictions are things-in-themselves or arbitrary social constructions." Spencer Cahill, University of South Florida