Beaten Into Violence: Anger, Masculinities, Alcohol, Narcotics

This book explores the emotional worlds of white working class men and why they self medicate using heroin, alcohol, crack and amphetamines. It drawn on the therapeutic work that the author undertook in Deptford, South East London, over a fifteen year period and highlights how familial, institutional, cultural and historical violence has shaped white working class masculinities in terms of love and violence. The book transcends current research paradigms drawing on relational theory to move beyond the 'front' presented in current social research to look at what emotions have been masked and kept secret. The book then highlights the failure of current strategies to engage with the defined problem by taking the presenting masculine 'front' as an issue to be resolved through discipline. The research draws on Alice Miller, Gitta Sereny, Klaus Thewelait, Jim Gilligan, Deleuze and Guattari to open up new ways of conceptualising violence and addiction relevant to social science researchers, criminologists, psychologists, gender studies as well as the general public.