مجلة دراسات في سيكولوجية الانحراف
Volume 10, Numéro 2, Pages 23-39
2025-12-31
Drug Use And Urban Violence: An Ethnographic Study Of The Interactions Of Emotion, Economy, And Social Networks In Tébessa Province
Authors : Grib Haeythem .
Abstract
This study investigates the complex relationship between drug use and urban violence in Tébessa Province, Algeria, exploring how structural, socio-economic, emotional, and spatial factors interact to produce violence pathways among current and former substance users. Employing a qualitative-ethnographic approach, fieldwork was conducted between January-August 2025 with 32 participants comprising 17 current users, 9 former users, and 6 key informants. Data collection utilized participant observation in cafés, public squares, and drug-prevalent spaces, complemented by in-depth semi-structured interviews and life narrative techniques, while thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke's framework identified emergent patterns across individual, spatial, and network dimensions. The study revealed three distinct violence pathways that challenge linear causation models. Spontaneous violence emerges from drug-induced impulsivity and emotional dysregulation, where substances reshape users' emotional thresholds and threat perception. Functional violence operates as economic mechanisms for substance financing through theft and robbery, transforming violence into survival strategies within precarious urban conditions. Collective-spatial violence manifests in marginalized neighborhoods, cafés, and public squares during high-risk periods, where peer networks, dealer disputes, and weak social control create violence hot spots. Results demonstrate that violence emerges not as direct pharmacological consequence but through complex interactions between individual emotional states, socio-economic pressures, peer networks, and urban spatial structures. These findings challenge unidimensional explanations while demonstrating the need for integrative theoretical frameworks combining psychological, social learning, anomie, and conflict theories. The study contributes contextual understanding to Arab urban settings and informs multi-level intervention strategies targeting youth in marginalized neighborhoods, economic alternatives, and strengthened social control institutions.
Keywords
Drug use ; Urban violence ; Ethnographic study ; Social networks ; Spatial structures
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