Alcoholic Thinking: Language, Culture, and Belief in Alcoholics Anonymous

Book Description

Based on long-term observation of Alcoholics Anonymous, the author focuses on cultural rather than personal causes of drug dependence. The author also discusses how the symbolic action of AA language and culture is the key to recovery. This study yields critical information about the development and practice of alcoholism and other drug dependence. Through the shared linguistic and cultural interaction of AA, the U.S. cultural ideology that emphasizes individualism, personal achievement, self-control, and self-reliance is shown to result in conflict; thus the gap between the perceived ideal and reality intensifies feelings of separation, alienation, and isolation leading to dependency. This detailed ethnographic narrative of Alcoholics Anonymous is based on three years of participant observation. The study suggests that anyone can be victimized by alcoholic thinking. Anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, health care and professional social services organizations will be interested in this book.

Customer Reviews:

Written from inside looking out - insightful and enlightened.......1998-06-06

Obviously written for those in the anthropolgy field, Alcoholic Thinking is also accessible to the average person with an interest in the subject. Written in thesis format, it is well researched and documented. My favorite sections describe AA meetings, the dogma and symbols of the organization. The author's stuggle with his own dependence makes the book compelling reading. Favorite line: You can't keep doing the same things and expect different results.

Drink, Power, and Cultural Change: A Social History of Alcohol in Ghana, c. 1800 to Recent Times (Social History of Africa Series)

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Drink, Power, and Cultural Change: A Social History of Alcohol in Ghana, c. 1800 to Recent Times (Social History of Africa Series)
Emmanuel Akyeampong
Manufacturer: Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

Ghana | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Tribal & Ethnic | Other Practices | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 043508996X

Book Description

Drink, Power, and Cultural Change presents a social history of alcohol in southern Ghana over the past century and a half and highlights its centrality in the culture of power. Alcohol could bridge the gap between the spiritual and living worlds, as the blessings of the gods and ancestors were necessary for success. This made alcohol an indispensable fluid, access to which was highly contested. Liquor revenues were critical for British colonialism, while protests against liquor regulations formed a significant part of local politics and drinking bars were hotbeds of nationalist agitation. Akyeampong's innovative analysis blends the disciplinary approaches of history, anthropology, social medicine, theology, and political science. A wide variety of sources forms the basis of his study, including proverbs, highlife music, comic opera, popular literature, and photographs in addition to the more familiar colonial and missionary archives and oral tradition. Drink, Power, and Cultural Change

Altering American Consciousness: The History of Alcohol and Drug Use in the United States, 1800-2000

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Altering American Consciousness: The History of Alcohol and Drug Use in the United States, 1800-2000
Sarah W., Ed. Tracy
Manufacturer: University of Massachusettes Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Alcoholism | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Drug Dependency | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

History | Special Topics | Medicine | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1558494251

Book Description

Virtually every American alive has at some point consumed at least one, and very likely more, consciousness altering drug. Even those who actively eschew alcohol, tobacco, and coffee cannot easily avoid the full range of psychoactive substances pervading the culture. With many children now taking Ritalin for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, professional athletes relying on androstenidione to bulk up, and the chronically depressed resorting to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Prozac, the early twenty-first century appears no less rife with drugs than previous periods.

Yet, if the use of drugs is a constant in American history, the way they have been perceived has varied extensively. Just as the corrupting cigarettes of the early twentieth century ("coffin nails" to contemporaries) became the glamorous accessory of Hollywood stars and American GIs in the 1940s, only to fall into public disfavor later as an unhealthy and irresponsible habit, the social significance of every drug changes over time.

The essays in this volume explore these changes, showing how the identity of any psychoactive substance—from alcohol and nicotine to cocaine and heroin—owes as much to its users, their patterns of use, and the cultural context in which the drug is taken, as it owes to the drug's documented physiological effects. Rather than seeing licit drugs and illicit drugs, recreational drugs and medicinal drugs, "hard" drugs and "soft" drugs as mutually exclusive categories, the book challenges readers to consider the ways in which drugs have shifted historically from one category to another.

Book Description

This book examines our relationship with alcohol and examines how drink has evolved in its functions and uses from the late Middle Ages to the present day in the West. This book discusses a range of issues, including domestic versus recreational use, the history of alcoholism, and the relationship between alcohol and violence, religion, sexuality, and medicine. It looks at how certain forms of alcohol speak about class, gender, and place. Drawing on examples from Europe, North America, and Australia, this book provides a comprehensive history of the role of alcohol over the past five centuries.

Domesticating Drink: Women, Men, and Alcohol in America, 1870-1940 (Gender Relations in the American Experience)

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Domesticating Discourses - Drink with regard to the Dames

Domesticating Drink: Women, Men, and Alcohol in America, 1870-1940 (Gender Relations in the American Experience)
Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Alcoholism | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Cooking, Food & Wine | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 080186870X

Book Description

The period of prohibition, from 1919 to 1933, marks the fault line between the cultures of Victorian and modern America. In Domesticating Drink, Murdock argues that the debates surrounding alcohol also marked a divide along gender lines. For much of early American history, men generally did the drinking, and women and children were frequently the victims of alcohol-associated violence and abuse. As a result, women stood at the fore of the temperance and prohibition movements and, as Murdock explains, effectively used the fight against drunkenness as a route toward political empowerment and participation. At the same time, respectable women drank at home, in a pattern of moderation at odds with contemporaneous male alcohol abuse.

During the 1920s, with federal prohibition a reality, many women began to assert their hard-won sense of freedom by becoming social drinkers in places other than the home. Murdock's study of how this development took place broadens our understanding of the social and cultural history of alcohol and the various issues that surround it. As alcohol continues to spark debate about behaviors, attitudes, and gender roles, Domesticating Drink provides valuable historical context and important lessons for understanding and responding to the evolving use, and abuse, of drink.

Customer Reviews:

Domesticating Discourses - Drink with regard to the Dames.......2001-01-17

Catherine Murdock's book 'Domesticating Drink' is an intiguing and insightful look into the world of alcohol in the US between 1870 and the Second World War. In direct opposition to the many historians who claim that Prohibition was caused by the interests of big business, Murdock's study brings the locus closer to the home, a locality that she claims was responsible for the majority of change. Utilising cookbooks, etiquette guides and department store catalogues as primary sources, Murdock reveals the major part that alcohol played in the everyday life of the middle class woman in the time under study. Fascinating for it's attention to detail and it's myriad of sources, Murdock's treatment of the lead-up years to Prohibition, and the eventual breakdown of the Eighteenth Amendment makes for compelling reading. A great introduction into a hotly contested debate, and a welcome change from texts which ignore the role of women in the 'Noble Experiment'.

Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town : Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow Revised Edition

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Complex culture, easy to read for an academic piece
Rum, chicha, or coca-cola?

Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town : Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow Revised Edition
Christine Eber
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Substance Abuse | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Mexico | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Mayan | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0292721048

Book Description

"In this well-written ethnography, Christine Eber weaves together the critical issues of gender relations, religious change, domestic violence, and drinking in highland Chiapas.... This is a fine ethnography that is a must-read for all interested in gender relations in contemporary Latin America. It is also one of the best current discussions on the little-studied phenomenon of religious change in Mexico.... Eber also provides a wonderful model of how to write a readable ethnography that treats its subjects with dignity and respect and honestly integrates the trials and tribulations of the ethnographer in the process."

—Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

" Women and Alcohol is a book worth reading.... The book's informal tone and interesting topic make it appealing to a wide audience, including casual readers and undergraduate classes. Furthermore, Eber's cross-cultural insight into alcohol dependency is relevant not only for anthropologists but also for health care professionals and others who deal with substance abuse."

—Latin American Indian Literatures Journal

This pioneering ethnography looks at women and drinking in the Highland Chiapas, Mexico, community of San Pedro Chenalhó to address the issues of women's identities, roles, relationships, and sources of power. In a new epilogue, Christine Eber describes how events of the last decade, including the Zapatista uprising, have strengthened women's resolve to gain greater control over their lives by controlling the effects of alcohol in the community.

Customer Reviews:

Complex culture, easy to read for an academic piece.......2007-10-10

The history, culture and lives of Mayan women are complex, there isn't an easy way to describe the family relationships and the struggles - family, economic and with alcohol.

This is an academic research book, so it isn't light reading, but the author's style helped me to visualize and understand the challenges women face in Chiapas

Rum, chicha, or coca-cola?.......2000-06-22

The scope of this book is much broader than the title implies. Like all good ethnographers, the author sought answers about alcohol use and abuse in the daily activities and religious practices of the community. Thus, she lived in the highland Mayan town of San Pedro Chenalhó in Chiapas, Mexico, and looked at the place of alcohol in the social structure, including the paradoxical role of rum which is aligned with religious experience, but with the potential to do harm. However, in living in the community and in asking questions about drinking, the author necessarily broadened her theme to include child-rearing practices, shamanism, and the control exerted over envy among community members. Although based in anthropological research, this book is very readable. The anecdotes are interesting. Moreover, the author is forthright about her own role in the community, her personal experience with drunkenness in Tenejapa, and the potential problems she generated for one family by her presence in their household. I have only minor quibbles with this book. The inclusion of Aztec traditions with respect to gender and alcohol could have been omitted, and terms such as "time-out" might have been briefly defined the first time they were used. But, overall, this is an essential resource for anyone interested in contemporary Mayan culture.

Desire and Craving: A Cultural Theory of Alcoholism (S U N Y Series in New Social Studies on Alcohol and Drugs)

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Desire and Craving: A Cultural Theory of Alcoholism (S U N Y Series in New Social Studies on Alcohol and Drugs)
Pertti Alasuutari
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Alcoholism | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Substance Abuse | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Finland | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0791410986

Average customer rating:

Good source material on many subjects
An Excellent Resource
Good Resource
WARNING! Crippling anti-smoking bias!

Encyclopedia Of Smoking And Tobacco:
Arlene B. Hirschfelder
Manufacturer: Oryx Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Smoking | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Children's | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books

Medical | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1573562025

Book Description

Here's a comprehensive reference guide that gives readers the entire story about the volatile issue of smoking in North America from the 1600s to the present. This encyclopedia is the ideal source for understanding today's controversies in a historical context. It offers something for everyone, covering social, legal, medical, science, business, and international issues. The A-Z format offers nearly 600 entries (400-800 words each), plus charts, tables, a list of selected topics, and more than 70 photographs. Its chronology starts with Columbus and continues through recent lawsuits. And its appendixes cover a wide range of information, from Surgeon General's reports, to essays by expert contributors, to landmark legal cases regarding workplace issues.

Customer Reviews:

Good source material on many subjects.......2002-07-10

As one reviewer said, but more vociferously, this encyclopedia covers more Anti-tobacco issues than tobacco issues. It might more properly be entitled A Bibliography of Anti-Tobacco Personalities and Literature. There are some good articles on smoking, cigarettes and tobacco per se, but most deal with the personalities and issues of the tobacco wars.

An Excellent Resource.......2002-05-30

I was somewhat dismayed when I read the other reviews as well. I have to admit that I am a former smoker myself, but did not find this book as "biased" as some have indicated. I am a librarian by profession and find this an invaluable resource when I have people who are writing research papers. It is chock full of information and very well organized. Certainly, up-to-date topics and statistics are - because of the fact that this is a book and not because of the author - not present. What is found though, are easy to read articles, photographs and a plethora of information that give one an overview on the many aspects of the tobacco industry. I reccomend this book highly and wish the author would update the volume.

Good Resource.......2001-10-03

Looking at the last review, I was somewhat dismayed. Obviously there is a bias present on the part of the reviewer. This is a very coomprehensive resource that provides information not only on tobacco but on persons involved, companies and historical events. I recommend it and also advise a potential buyer to exam the professional reviews that can be found right after the summary. Thank you, have a good day.

WARNING! Crippling anti-smoking bias!.......2000-04-20

Despite the prim "research volume"-type title, this is nothing more than an extensive anti-smoking screed with a scattering of simplistic information about tobacco and smoking. This severe bias unfortunately renders the book almost utterly worthless, and those looking for factual, unbiased, and useful information about smoking and tobacco are recommended to search for a copy of the out-of-print Tobacco Encyclopedia by Voges.

Alcohol in Africa: Mixing Business, Pleasure, and Politics

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Alcohol in Africa: Mixing Business, Pleasure, and Politics
Deborah Fahy Bryceson
Manufacturer: Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Globalization | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0325071152

Book Description

Alcohol in Sub-Saharan Africa has historically been a conduit for religious and political expression controlled by male elders. Over the past century and especially during the last two crisis-ridden decades, alcohol's ceremonial role has been largely displaced. Rapid income differentiation and economic marginalization have spurred production and consumption of alcohol. In many localities, expanding supply has led to drinking patterns that impinge on general social welfare. These circumstances coincide with the continent-wide implementation of structural adjustment and economic liberalization policies. One might ask, have those policies driven people to drink? Currently, alcohol is a taboo subject for donors and African governments alike, yet it is at the nexus of many of the continent's most pressing problems. Agricultural sector decline, large-scale labor redundancy, household instability, and AIDS have cause or effect linkages to changing alcohol usage. This edited collection explor Currently, alcohol is a taboo subject for donors and African governments alike, yet it is at the nexus of many of the continent's most pressing problems. Agricultural sector decline, large-scale labor redundancy, household instability, and AIDS have cause or effect linkages to changing alcohol usage. This edited collection explores the economic, political, and social meanings of alcohol usage. The material is contextualized within a review of existing anthropological, social history, and social welfare literature on alcohol, and a broad historical overview of the continental trends in alcohol production and consumption. Both the pleasure and the pain of alcohol usage emerge, providing insight into the ambiguity of alcohol in Africa today.

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Alcohol in Ancient Mexico
Henry Bruman , and Henry J. Bruman
Manufacturer: University of Utah Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Mexico | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The art of distillation arrived in Mexico with the Spaniards in the sixteenth century. Even before that time native skills and available resources had contributed to a well-developed tradition of intoxicating beverages, many of which are stil produced and consumed. Henry Bruman visited various Mexican and Central American Indian tribes to reconstruct the variety and extent of these ancient traditions. He discerned five distinct areas that he defined by their culturally most significant beverages and superimposed these over the great mescal wine region. In these reigns he noted wines from cactus, cactus fruit, cornstalks, and mesquite pods, beer from sprouted maize, and fermented sap from pulque agaves. Outside of the mescal region he observed widespread consumption in the Yucatan of a wine made form fermented honey and balch bark and lesser known beverages in other regions. He also observed the frequent inclusion in the fermentation process of alkaloid-bearing ingredients such as peyote and tobacco, plants whose roots or bark contain saponins-which act as cardiac poisons-and even poisons from certain toads! Alcohol in Ancient Mexico describes in Detail the various plants and processes used to make such beverages, their prevalence, and their significance for local culture. It also considers the relative absence of alcoholic drink in the southwestern United States, the introduction of stills following the Spanish conquest, and possible sources for the introduction of coconut wine. Although this book is based on research conducted in the 1930s, this never-before-published material retains its relevance today. Bruman's photographs offer a fascinating glimpse at a traditional world that was vanishing even then.

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