Isaac Fox

Profile

I am a PhD researcher specialising in contemporary British society and culture, with a focus on class and gender as expressed through representations of heroin use. I explore how social and cultural representations of heroin use have contributed to the construction of an ‘undeserving’ underclass. Through a socio-cultural approach, I examine how writers, artists and the media have consistently portrayed heroin use as part of a self-destructive masculine identity, assessing how these portrayals have shaped public perceptions of addiction and influenced the marginalisation of heroin addicts in British society and government policy.

From 2020-2024 I attended the University of Lincoln where I achieved my BA and MA in history. My MA dissertation, ‘Deindustrialisation to Acid House: The Role of Thatcherism in Shaping Rave Culture,1984-1994,’ examined the emergence of the Acid House subculture in post-industrial Northern England. The project explored how working-class men used the subculture to renegotiate masculinity amid the social and economic burdens of Thatcherite Britain, reassessing the subculture as a continuation of working-class resistance seen throughout the 1980s.

Research interests

My current research acts as a new chapter in the history of Britain’s deeply troubled, yet fascinating, relationship with the opium poppy and is, therefore, situated within a broader history of health and medicine that extends to the nineteenth century. In tracing this history, I aim to contribute to contemporary discussions around addiction and inequality, ultimately, encouraging a reassessment of how we understand and support certain marginalised communities in twenty-first century Britain.

My main historical interests fall into the following categories:

· Contemporary British history

· Youth subcultures and counter cultural movements

· History of gender and sexuality

· Music history

· History of health and medicine

Qualifications

• MA History, University of Lincoln (2024)
• BA History University of Lincoln (2023)