John Booth Davies
Psychologist
along with a handful of other academics, Mr Davies helped establish music as a legitimate, serious and popular field of study in UK university psychology departments.
Mr Davies’s most controversial academic work, developed throughout the 1980s and 1990s, centred on challenging the dominant way in which addiction is understood. His provocatively titled 1992 book, The Myth of Addiction, suggested that, notwithstanding pharmacological influences, addiction was a causal attribution for undesirable behaviour with personal, social and political functions. These ideas were extended in a later book, Drugspeak: The Analysis of Drug Discourse (1997).
The notion that people have no control over addictive behaviours, he argued, is to an extent a self-fulfilling prophecy that is sustained by the wider societal context in which individuals must justify their deviant behaviour.
Explaining behaviour in terms of addiction, Mr Davies proposed, serves the important function of allaying responsibility for undesirable conduct. The explanation of addiction, he suggested, directly undermines people’s belief in their ability to change behaviour, which is a strong predictor of actual behaviour change.
He was regarded as something of a rebel by the addiction research establishment and, as such, his work was stifled and side-lined by those at the forefront of the dominant addiction paradigm, who refused to engage seriously with his orthodoxy-challenging views.
Nonetheless, he managed to have considerable influence despite his non-conformist position, and was highly respected and admired by a sufficient number of distinguished and learned people to secure a lasting legacy. Senior addiction specialists voted The Myth of Addiction as one of the most influential books in the field in 1999 and he was made a Scottish Government drugs adviser after retirement.
In 1993 he became founding co-editor in chief of the academic journal Addiction Research and Theory which was established to be an alternative voice in the then stultified addictions field and as an outlet for ideas that might otherwise not be heard. He was a staunch member of the New Directions in the Study of Alcohol Group and on the final day of the annual conference traditionally delivered a presentation of startling originality, by turns hilarious and profound.
The ingenuity and provocativeness of his thought is summed up aptly by the title of his last book, God Versus Particle Physics: A No-score Draw (2013).
In the 1990s Mr Davies began to carry out human factors research and in 1996 he founded and directed Ciras, the Confidential Incident Reporting and Analysis System for rail safety.
This was mandated in 2000 as a national system after the Paddington Rail Crash by the then Transport Secretary John Prescott. It is still in operation today.
The contract to run the national system led to the setting up of Human Factors Analysts Ltd, a University of Strathclyde spin-off company, which undertook research into human factors and safety for the NHS, UK nuclear and defence companies. He also served on the board of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. Mr Davies particularly loved the rail project and the ensuing safety systems work, and was particularly pleased to receive his lineside pass to access “trackside”.
Mr Davies also found time for numerous hobbies. He made model aeroplanes, rode motorbikes, mountaineered, was a keen birdwatcher and a committed cyclist.
Mr Davies was a one-off: a maverick and complete original. He was without pretensions, had a great sense of humour, was a captivating storyteller, and an unflinchingly rigorous proponent of honesty and integrity.
He was keen to get to the bottom of the explanation of any phenomenon and, expecting nothing less in return, loved to argue points to exhaustion, regardless of social convention, embarrassment or the eminence of those with whom he was arguing.
Mr Davies was also a fantastic unyielding mentor, and deployed his considerable intellect in a supportive and thought-provoking manner, encouraging those close to him to push their ideas beyond the constraints of traditional thought and accepted “truths”.
John Booth Davies is survived by his wife of 50 years, Shirley. He will be remembered by his many friends and colleagues with some awe and great affection.