From Alienation to Integration in Alcoholics Anonymous: A descriptive Analysis Using Dialectical Sociology of Religion

Abstract

<p>This thesis addresses itself toward two interrelated tasks. The first task is to provide an ethnographic description of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), the meetings and the members. The second task is to describe A.A.'s methods using dialectical sociology of religion. Excessive consumption of alcohol provides a variety of social problems and Alcoholics Anonymous has been an increasingly popular solution for those who wish to discontinue their destructive drinking habits. Sociological research on A.A. has, however, been limited; A.A.'s interesting combination of religion and self-help practices has not been combined under one theoretical paradigm. This thesis attempts to respond to that void; to describe A.A.'s effectiveness by combining the social and religious attributes of the program. Alcoholism is conceptualized as a state of alienation, where anomie and normlessness combine with alcohol consumption to present personal and social problems. In Chapter Two, dialectical sociology of religion is outlined as a theoretical model that accounts for the alcoholic's transformation from alienation to integration as an A.A. member. The career model is utilized to organize the data substantiating this theory of transformation, in Chapter Three. Chapters Four to Seven describe the four mechanisms of ritual, objectification, commitment, and myth which facilitate the transformation and Chapter Eight presents a critique of the data, the theory, and the work of this thesis. Alcoholics Anonymous has become one of the most successful self-help groups ever. It has been able to change hopeless human beings into integrated members of society. An organization that can have such a drastic effect on human life warrants further sociological examination.</p>