Dopamine's Political Career

Abstract

This article traces the career of a scholarly reference point in political and administrative fields in an attempt to explain the processes that enable the use of an “idea” for political ends. It is important to study the circulation and appropriation dynamics that make a scientific concept available to political and/or administrative actors, and to understand how it can be referenced to a political issue, an advocacy, or a public policy. This case-study shows how dopamine (considered as the neurotransmitter of addictions) contributed to an important shift in French drug policies at the end of the last century.