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ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes the contemporary culture of heroin addiction in the United States, using a revised portion of the general theory of action. The concept of a cultural action system is introduced and somewhat reformulated. The micro evolution of heroin culture from its generating conditions in inner‐city street youth culture is reviewed. An LIGA analysis of the system of heroin culture is presented. There is a summary with concluding remarks.

The analysis of Durkheim in The Structure of Social Action is integral to Parsons's discussion of the utilitarian‐positivist tradition and the emergence of a voluntaristic theory of action from it. The four "stages" of theoretical argument in Durkheim can be related directly to the four defining elements of the "utilitarian dilemma," namely empiricism, rationality, atomism, and the randomness of ends. The most questionable aspect of Parsons's argument is the alleged stubbornness of Durkheim's empiricism. On the other hand, much of the criticism of Parsons's argument, by Pope in particular, although also by Scott and Warner, Is either misdirected or itself questionable. The development and conclusions of Durkheim's moral sociology are as Parsons claims, and form a viable basis for a non‐positivist theory of action.

Draws on retrospective self-report data on ages at first use of alcohol & marijuana from nine National Household Surveys of Drug Abuse, 1982-1995 (N = approximately 160,000), to show that estimates of alcohol & marijuana incidence (initiation) during early adolescence decline with increases in time interval between data collection & reference periods. The consistency of this finding by gender & across eight birth cohorts, interviewed at different ages & lengths of retention, supports an interpretation in terms of retrospective reporting bias. An exponential decay model is applied to adjust estimates for response bias & use the model to show how bias distorts trends in alcohol & marijuana incidence, 1961-1990. An analysis of changes in lifetime-incidence & age-at-first-use reports of birth cohorts as they age suggests that forward telescoping accounts for most underreporting of early alcohol use, & intentional concealment accounts for most underreporting of marijuana use. 4 Tables, 2 Figures, 1 Appendix, 57 References. Adapted from the source document.