Why I Smoke: Sociology of a Deadly Habit

Smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. In the twenty first century everyone knows the harm that smoking can cause and yet people still willingly risk their lives for the habit. I am one of these people. I would not throw myself in front of a bus; I would not take Drano from my kitchen and choose to ingest it. One of human being's greatest instincts is survival. So why do I engage in this life threatening activity? The question cannot simply be answered in one way. There are physical, biological, social, and psychological reasons for the attraction of cigarettes. For our purposes I will use various sociological theories to understand why smoking has become such a huge force in my life and how society has played a role in this manifestation. Perhaps through researching why I smoke I will be able to see how I can stop. To people of my generation smoking carried along a million perceptions of what it symbolized. Smoking was cool and sexy. When we used to play house in third and fourth grade part of the game was to make fake cigarettes and pretend we were smokers. One of the most popular candies among my friends was candy or gum cigarettes that our parents would buy us. When my dad was a smoker I used to steal his packs and throw them away because I was taught in school how bad cigarettes were for you. As I got older and my parents became less and my peers more significant, it mattered more to me what kind of persona smoking illustrated than what I had been taught. I remember the first cigarette I ever smoked. I was in the seventh grade, twelve years old, behind a tree in my back yard with my best friend. She had smoked before, I hadn't. The girl I was with was a new friend. Until I met her I wasn't much of a rebel; I was more of a drama kid violin player who did what her mother said. This new friend was different from any I'd ever had. When she lit the cigarette and taught me how to inhale, I did not hesitate--as far as I can remember. It was too exciting; doing something I knew I shouldn't. It wasn't about smoking the cigarette, it was about what that symbolized in the life of junior high kids trying to find their place. I didn't start buying my own packs of cigarettes until the end of eighth grade. It became a pastime, a social event. We'd all go buy cigarettes after school and sit in the woods or at the park, or outside the mall and smoke them together. We'd practice how we smoked and look at ourselves in the mirror. When I was young the antismoking campaigns you see today weren't around. We knew it was bad for you but it was still cool. It said something about who you were and almost defined the kind of person or group you fit with. In ninth grade I began to be loyal to a certain brand of cigarettes, Parliament Lights. Despite what common research says I had never even seen these brands advertised before. I started smoking them because it was what all of my friends smoked not because Joe Camel told me to. Throughout my first two years of high school I was still a social smoker and could smoke and quit as many times as I wanted to. The fact of the matter is addiction sneaks up on you. Nicotine is an addictive substance. Obviously some of the reasoning for my becoming a full fledged smoker had to do with my body's dependence on the drug. At the same time cigarettes are addicting in other ways. I became socialized into and addicted to the smoking lifestyle. After all of my friends would sit down to eat, or when we were bored, upset, needed a break from work, or were drinking at a party, we would smoke a cigarette. It's a social thing. Sitting down with friends, smoking and talking is something that has occupied a great amount of time in my life. Smoking is even a way to make new friends. Asking for a lighter is a great pick up line at a bar. At Orientation before my first year of school I didn't know one single person. The boy sitting across from me at the lunch table said he was getting up to go smoke a cigarette. …