Waking up to sleepiness: Modafinil, the media and the pharmaceuticalisation of everyday/night life

Abstract

This paper examines the social construction of the new wakefulness-promoting drug Modafinil (brand name Provigil) in the British press. Key themes in this newspaper coverage include the potential 'uses' and 'abuses' of this drug in relation to: (i) medical conditions; (ii) lifestyle choices; (iii) military operations; and (iv) sporting competition. The British press, we show, play a dual role in reporting on these trends and developments: on the one hand constructing this as something of a 'wonder drug' in relation to the treatment of a number of medical complaints or conditions, on the other hand articulating and amplifying a range of cultural concerns and anxieties about the non-medical 'uses' and 'abuses' of this drug, both now and in the future. These issues, it is argued, are best interpreted in terms of media concerns over the pharmaceuticalisation rather than the medicalisation of everyday/night life. The paper concludes with some further thoughts and reflections on these issues, including the potential reworking of notions of 'pharmaceutical Calvinism' and the 'elective affinity' between this 'smart' new drug and the spirit of (bio)capitalism.

Medicalisation or customisation? Sleep, enterprise and enhancement in the 24/7 society

“…The paper builds in new ways on both our own previous sociological work on the medicalisation and politics of sleep (Williams, 2011(Williams, , 2005Williams, Seale, Boden, Lowe, & Steinberg, 2008) and other recent research on medico-managerial agendas regarding sleep (Brown, 2004;Hancock, Williams, & Boden, 2009) and the changing fate and fortunes of practices like the workplace nap in a global context (Baxter & Kroll-Smith, 2005). Whilst important work has also recently been done on sleeping cultures in Asia and the West, both past and present (cf.…”

Stakeholder perspectives and reactions to “academic” cognitive enhancement: Unsuspected meaning of ambivalence and analogies

“…North American and international media have discussed CE as a lifestyle choice referring mainly to the North American context and evoked the issue of 'pharmaceuticalisation' with regard to CE (Williams et al, 2008). Research on the media coverage of modafinil, a sleep cycle regulator often associated with CE, has also revealed the use of different frameworks.…”

“…Research on the media coverage of modafinil, a sleep cycle regulator often associated with CE, has also revealed the use of different frameworks. On the one hand, modafinil is constructed as a "wonder drug" (Williams et al, 2008) and product that can help control sleep (Coveney et al, 2008). On the other hand, media discourses on this topic have voiced cultural and social concerns about the regulation of sleep cycles with modafinil especially for enhancement purposes (Coveney et al, 2008;Williams et al, 2008).…”

“…On the one hand, modafinil is constructed as a "wonder drug" (Williams et al, 2008) and product that can help control sleep (Coveney et al, 2008). On the other hand, media discourses on this topic have voiced cultural and social concerns about the regulation of sleep cycles with modafinil especially for enhancement purposes (Coveney et al, 2008;Williams et al, 2008). Though the different discourses in bioethics, the media, and public health create a rich set of co-existing perspectives, they may complicate the stakeholders' take on the current controversy surrounding CE.…”

Big Pharma and Big Medicine in the Global Environment

“…Current medicalization scholarship has refocused our analytic gaze from the power and authority of the medical profession to consider the active participation of individual patient/consumer/users individually and collectively in medicalization processes (Brown and Zavestoski 2005;Crossley 2006), resistance to pharmaceuticals (Figert 2011;Williams et al 2011), and the use of medical prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes (Williams, Seale et al 2008). It has also explored new "engines" of medicalization including the pharmaceutical industry (Conrad 2005) and technoscience (Clarke et al 2003).…”