Impression Management in Bottom-level UK Drug Markets. A Case Study of Multi-face Dealers in Kent's Coastal Towns

The main aim of this study is to deliver an innovative theoretical contribution to the literature surrounding drug dealer identities. It intends to do so in two ways: First, by focusing on an often neglected segment of drug supply (the BL markets), this project will contribute to our understanding of the fragmentation of drug dealer identities and markets. Secondly, through shifting the focus away from the rational actor perspective and conceiving of drugs dealers as social agents in the first place, this project will be unique in exploring the relevance of non-criminal roles in the development of criminal activities (here IO drugs dealing).
The project also intends to deliver a substantial empirical contribution to our knowledge of drugs dealing activities in a non-urban environment, here Kent's Coastal towns. With the focus on BL drugs markets, this project aims to offer a thick description on the activities of IO drugs dealers and aims to assess to what extent dealing is occupational or supplements a normalised lifestyle.
Finally, this study also aims to contribute to the development of drugs policy by pointing at the found discrepancies between the use of the archetypical drugs dealer by media and repression agencies and the lived realities of Kent's IO drugs dealers. As such this project aims to assess to what extent the archetypal dealers' dominance as the overriding concept of dealers is justified when taking the characteristics of IO suppliers in BL drugs markets into account.
Methodology (3 Year plan):
1. Year I: Literature Review + Media Analysis + Explorative Fieldwork
In this year, the basis of the final literature review will be laid. The aim is to refine it in a process of adaptive theory (Layder 1998) over the total three years. The main research activity of year I is the construction and analysis of a newspaper database (three UK broadsheets and three tabloids) on drugs dealing in the UK. Preliminary research question (RQ): 'How are drug dealers and drug markets represented in UK newspapers?'
Next, an exploratory field study will be conducted including life history interviewing of IO drugs dealers. Preliminary RQ: 'To what extent is the involvement of IO drugs suppliers in Kent's LB markets the product of rational choice?' This study is also a first step in preparing the ethnographic study in year II.
2. Year II. A Close-to-home Ethnography Including Repetitive Interviewing
The main research activity of year II involves ethnographic research in a Kent coastal town. Over the timespan of 1 year, eight participants will be shadowed for a substantial amount of time. It is the explicit aim of the researcher to observe IO drug dealers in different social fields at different times. Next participants will be extensively interviewed on at least 4 separate occasions, spaced intermittently throughout the ethnography. While offering a thick description of the lives of these IO suppliers and the markets in which they operate, the preliminary RQ of the ethnographic study is: 'To what extent does the conflict between illicit and legit roles of IO drugs dealers impact drugs dealing activities in low bottom drugs markets?'
This fieldwork will be supplemented with participant observation at Canterbury Crown Court, targeting drugs dealer cases. Court observations and interviews with 3 judges will be used to assess to what extent judges rely on archetypical conceptions of drugs dealers in setting sentences. Preliminary RQ: to what extent are judges in the sentencing process of IO drugs dealers influenced by the archetypical conception of the drugs dealers?
3. Year III. Triangulating Data and Writing the Final Product
Final Note: Building on Unique and Established Access to a Hard-to-Reach Population
Before starting this academic journey, the researcher was a resident of HMP Elemly, held on drug charges. Allowed to rebuild, I now find myself able to investigate the drug markets I was once a part of.