The Globalization of Addiction: Bruce Alexander
Bruce Alexander has counselled hard-core drug addicts in Vancouver’s darkest city streets and prisons. He has also conducted scientific research with animals (including the well-known “Rat Park” studies) and human beings. He now uses clinical, historical, and anthropological studies to document the ways in which addiction is built into the emerging globalized society of the modern age.
He has published three books, Peaceful Measures: Canada’s Way Out of the War on Drugs (University of Toronto Press, 1990), The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit (Oxford University Press, 2008), and A History of Psychology in Western Civilization (Cambridge University Press, 2014, co-author Curt Shelton).
Since retiring from Simon Fraser University as Professor Emeritus, he has continued public speaking, primarily in Canada and Europe. He posts many of his recent speeches on his website. He was awarded the Sterling Prize for Controversy in 2007. He lives on Pender Island, BC with his wife, Patricia Holborn.
