Weekend warriors : cocaine use amongst privileged expatriates in Hong Kong from an edgework perspective

Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic study, which is amongst the first to illuminate the hidden population of privileged expatriate cocaine users in Hong Kong, documenting their characteristics as well as narratives on their drug careers, motivations to use and, how their use was situated in their privileged expatriate lifestyle. It provides an in-depth analysis of these ‘weekend warriors’ and illustrates their cocaine use and supply. The research is based on data from 51 interviews of users (n=32) and third-party participants (police, frontline drug workers and ‘coke bar’ managers), and 17 months of participant observation of user groups.

The thesis adopts a sociological approach to the deviant behaviour of cocaine use through the theoretical framework of edgework. From the theoretical perspective, the thesis is able to explore the paradox posed by Lyng (2005) and discusses the macro forces which motivate an actor to engage in edgework, examining how these opposing rationales complement one another. Although edgework is considered largely an individual event, by exploring the process of edgework the thesis illustrates how cocaine use is shaped and influenced both by the user and section of society through policing, and by the users themselves through their desire to control their use. Discussions on both policing and control enable the thesis to engage with a wider discourse of who defines the edge – society or the edgeworker within the illicit edgework of cocaine use. Moreover, by engaging with gender throughout the analysis, the research addresses one of the key criticisms of edgework theory (Miller, 1991).

This thesis illuminates how cocaine use amongst privileged expatriates not only serves as an example of edgework, but also enables us to advance our understanding of the edgework theory. This research has four major theoretical findings and implications. Firstly, it untangles the paradox posed by Lyng (2005) and suggests that the macro rationales are not opposing ideas but complement (Lyng, 2005) and interact with one another. It is suggested that the rationales to conduct edgework are fluid, multifaceted, and interchangeable. Secondly, illicit edgework is policed by different sections of society as well as the edgeworker community. These forms of policing shape the experiences of edgework and define the edges. Thirdly, edges are defined by both the normative expectations of society and the edgeworkers. These definitions are interwoven and shape edgework experiences. Finally, edgework itself and the process of conducting edgework are gendered. Women engage in edgework to challenge and manipulate these conditions. Female edgeworkers can experience agency and empowerment through edgework albeit temporary and within gendered parameters.

Ultimately, this thesis unearths a hidden population of drug users in Hong Kong while adding to the growing body of privileged use and supply drug literature. From a theoretical perspective, it provides a possible solution to key questions in edgework literature and engages with the central criticism of edgework, that of gender.

(470 Words)