Cognitive Enhancing Drug Use Amongst Higher Education Students in an Age of Neoliberalism: A Critical Discourse Study

Mann, John William (2025) Cognitive Enhancing Drug Use Amongst Higher Education Students in an Age of Neoliberalism: A Critical Discourse Study. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

In recent decades, there has been a growing body of literature and media coverage regarding the use of cognitive enhancing drugs (CEDs), especially amongst university students. This surge in interest appears to align with the rise of neoliberalism, particularly in the West, which has permeated almost all aspects of society, including higher education. As the trend of enhancement drug usage expands within the continued neoliberal age, the specific use of CEDs by students calls for fresh theoretical insights into drug consumption. Traditional drug use theories, often rooted in medical and legal perspectives, are not adequate for capturing the nuances and dynamics of this contemporary drug trend. For example, dominant medical and legal perspectives tend to oversimplify drug use, divorcing it from the socio-cultural, (neoliberal) ideological contexts, whilst categorising it into binary classifications, such as recreational versus problematic, or legal versus illegal. As stated, the increase in contemporary student CED use has hypothetically aligned with the spread of neoliberal ideology into higher education. In addition, this form of drug use does not sit within simplistic binary categorisations - it is not recreational nor largely problematic and often blurs the boundary between legal and illegal substance use. To address this gap, this doctoral research draws on neoliberalism and employs a qualitative approach that combines netnography with fifteen semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The data from which are analysed through a Dialectical Relational Approach to Critical Discourse Studies. This process leads to the development of a novel “Functional Response Framework” for augmenting understandings of CED use amongst higher education students. A framework that can not only support the development of judicious and effective policies and practices regarding student CED use, but also broader substance use, whilst enriching the theoretical discourse on the topic.