A Political Economy of “Doves”

Abstract

Codified references to the illegal drug Ecstasy in rave-party advertisements have become a focus of attention with the increased use of Ecstasy at rave parties during the 1990s. This article explores the political economy of a particular type of Ecstasy tablet—“Dove” Ecstasy—through discourse analysis accompanied by ethnographic description. The analysis traces the movement of value from the dove sign to the discursive practices and mimetic processes that characterize the political economy of this illegal-drug sign. The dove can be used to indicate the qualities of the drug, the social-world affiliation of the user, advertising for a particular type of music, and/or a commercial logo, and signify broader ideological processes apparent in consumer culture. The slippage of meaning of the dove sign arises from the possibility for multiple iterations in different contexts. This iterability may be an important feature of the social world and has implications for the use of graphical imagery in harm-reduction strategies. The application of political economy in this study has theoretical implications for understanding the movement of capital in drug-using cultures.