Pharmaceuticalisation and Performance Consumption: Differences Between Young Workers and University Students

In the current modernity, the management of personal capabilities gave rise to a broad market and a booming performance industry. Medications play an increasing role in this offering, focusing mainly on cognitive/mental and body performance. The so-called lifestyle drugs and smart drugs are the most visible side of this modern logic of self-management. The production of both pharmaceuticals and natural medicines/supplements participates in this range of purposes, and the boundaries between them gradually fade as far as their social perception. Sociological approaches in this area have been aware of these more structural changes expressed by this type of consumption: (i) the therapeuticalisation of performance; (ii) new dimensions of pharmaceuticalisation; and (iii) commodification and consumer culture in the production of new needs. In this communication, we intend to discuss performance consumptions focusing on the subjects’ contexts - particularly labour and academic contexts. The goal is to shift the focus from the mechanisms of consumer culture to the contextual effects. We aim to discuss how social contexts structure individuals’ investments on performance; how they participate in the construction of social consumption needs; how they generate legitimacy to consume; and how they shape performance expectations. For this purpose, it is intended to compare the performance consumptions between two young population groups – university students and young workers (without university education) – exploring the analytical triangulation between consumption, performance pressures perceived by respondents, and shared expectations. The empirical support for this questioning is based on extensive as well as qualitative data, collected within a study carried out in Portugal on young population [18 to 29 years old].