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Introduction

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Heroin, Acting, and Comedy in New York City

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Abstract

In this chapter, I argue that heroin misuse by actors and comedians is an understudied area in sociology and that New York City is an ideal locale for a study addressing this gap in knowledge. The chapter contains a short history of film, theatre, television, and comedy in New York City, in order to show the importance of the city for these performance mediums. A review of the American sociological literature on acting, specific mediums of acting (film, TV, and theatre), and comedy confirms that these have been marginal areas in the discipline; a review of the drug research literature indicates that little is known about heroin use by actors or comedians. I present the main thesis of the book concerning the link between subculture, identity, and heroin use; the hypotheses to be examined; the research design for the study; and a chapter-by-chapter plan for the book.

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  1. Department of Sociology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY, New York, New York, USA

    Barry Spunt

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Spunt, B. (2017). Introduction. In: Heroin, Acting, and Comedy in New York City. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59972-8_1

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