Social representations of young people in the city of Medellín on the consumption of psychoactive substances in relation to their scenarios

Abstract

This research seeks to understand the process of construction of social representations about the consumption of psychoactive substances in relation to the scenarios where young people carry out their consumption, rescuing their intersubjective experience. The methodological approach is interpretive, it corresponds to the constructivist paradigm. The research strategies used: participant observation, qualitative case study and documentary study and the techniques used: open and in-depth interviews, ethnographic observation, and documentary analysis. For the sampling, young people who participated in certain scenarios (parks, concerts and parties) were identified. The findings show that social knowledge in relation to substance use is constructed from elements such as attitudes, prejudices, beliefs, one's own experience in the face of consumption as such, among others, which are central in the representation social context of psychoactive substance use. These indicators are revealed as the contents that define a status of knowledge about the scenarios where young people carry out consumer practices.