Dr John Player

I am working as an Advocate for People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) in Midlothian and East Lothian  and doing a PhD in De-industrialisation; Drug Related Deaths in Scotland.

My interests are in the stigma and oppression of one of the most vulnerable and demonised groups in Scotland and their relationship with internal colonisation and notions of ‘Decolonization is not a metaphor’ & ‘Social Murder’.  Moreover, I am interested in how drugs have been weaponised and have written about it (see publications).

I am particularly interested in social class and how it articulates with other forms of oppression and social movements that seek to make such alliances locally, national and internationally e.g. Edinburgh Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee (EGGEC). Moreover, I am interested in the Ideological State Apparatuses ISAs) especially Criminal Justice Service and the extent of its ‘relative autonomy’

Recent Publications: 

Player, John (2023) Concept Vol. 14, No. 1, Spring 2023 Review: Radical: Free or Token? Darren McGarvey (2022) The Social Distance Between Us. London: Ebury Press, hardback, 400 pp.

Player, John (2022) ‘Pedagogies of hope and drug-related deaths in Scotland’ Studies in the Education of Adults, 2022, Vol. 54, No. 2, 145–160

Player, John (2020) ‘Experiencing dependence on drugs and alcohol and homelessness in a Pandemic’ Concept Vol. 11, Covid-19 Supplementary Issue, 2020

Player, John (2020) ‘Adult Education and the temperance movement: looking back’ Galloway, S et al (Eds) (2020) 100 years of radical Adult Education in Scotland, Building Hope for the Future Stirling School of Education

Player, John (2020) ‘Slamdance the cosmopolis’  Political Discourses around Drugs and Alcohol’ Concept Vol 11 No 3 (2020)