"BECOMING ALCOHOLIC" (DAVID RUDY).   Term Paper ID:19560 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Critical analysis of work on Alcoholics Anonymous. Theory, practices, disease concept, public policy.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Critical analysis of work on Alcoholics Anonymous. Theory, practices, disease concept, public policy. Paper Introduction: This study will provide a critical analysis of David R. Rudy's Becoming Alcoholic: Alcoholics Anonymous and the Reality of Alcoholism. While Rudy's perspective is certainly marked by an appreciation for the benefits of Alcoholics Anonymous for alcoholics who seek sobriety, he is nevertheless objective and balanced in his analysis of AA. As Rudy writes in the Notes section of his book, "Nearly half of the reviews that addressed my relationship to AA charged that I had gone 'native' [i.e., fallen under the spell of AA and lost scientific objectivity] while the other half argued that I have been superficial or ethnocentric [i.e., failed to deeply enough appreciate the worth of AA]. I interpret such disagreement as support that I have successfully straddled the middle of the road" (Rudy, 1986, p. Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Concerning the methodological approach of Rudy, the author declaresthat "Methodological techniques . This honesty about his own inherent, unavoidable, and evensubconscious biases does not disqualify Rudy as a scientific observer, butrather causes the reader to be even more open to his analysis and findings,for we know that the author has faced and acknowledged his own fears andbiases. After all, the scientific method relies on measurement ---if there is nothing which yields to measurement, then there simply is noscientific method. Group Psychotherapy With Addicted Populations. This means nothing to the alcoholic or drug addict, who willcontinue to drink and use drugs until his or her life "hits bottom." He orshe may use and/or drink unto death. Drug education is certainly a step in the right direction, but byitself it will prove no more effective than drug control through attacks onColombian drug lords or destruction of alcohol commercials. . On theother hand, the same theory and methodologies are weak because the datathey yield will be so fluid and open to interpretation and so reliant onthe intuition of the researcher and the candidness of the subjects. The words were forming on my lips, 'But I'mnot really one of them, I'm just .... The argument of Rudy is, essentially, that AA is correct in itsdescription of alcoholism and recovery from alcoholism. The individual may be bullied or pressured intousing alcohol and drugs, but he will not be bullied or pressured intosuccessful, long-term recovery. .... This has been, atleast, the experience of alcoholics who have found recovery success inAlcoholics Anonymous. Issues of alcoholism, of the definition of alcoholism, of thenature and effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous, of the nature of groupdynamics, of the nature of recovery itself, particularly when that recoveryis based on what AA refers to as "spiritual progress" --- all of theseissues and aspects of the research at hand require a certain set ofmethodologies. stillhold to the disease concept, as does the American Medical Association . Drugs in American Society. . All of theseapproaches are useful, but without the implementation on a national levelof the principles and practices of Alcoholics Anonymous, those moresuperficial efforts will prove negligible in the fight against alcoholismand drug addiction. Carbondale, Illinois: SouthernIllinois University Press, 1986.----------------------- 12 indicates real socialrelations among many heavy drinkers ..... 131). The disease concept frees the individual from responsibility for hisdisease --- but does not free him from responsibility for his actions and,finally, for his recovery. One of the drunks shouted, "Hey, maybe we should try some of that AAstuff! 115). .. . Rudy's conclusions also should help lead to a public policy whichincreasingly relies on the communal nature of recovery. The individual alcoholic will very likely find it impossible to recoverseparate from a community of recovering alcoholics. With respect to public policy, then, based on Rudy's conclusions itis vital that treatment programs emphasize the social elements of recovery. Such an aboveboard approach to the material is crucial in the studyof alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous, due to the fact that there are agreat number of areas of controversy and debate and uncertainty withrespect to the definition of alcoholism itself, as well as with respect tothe nature of AA as an effective means of dealing with alcoholism. 134). 212-213). It is vital that public policy be based on the increasingly acceptedconclusion---endorsed by the sources consulted by Rudy--- that alcoholism and drug addiction are diseases. The problem is that "Pressure" is not what works in AA, but,rather, group acceptance, group sharing, group involvement in positive,healthful activities. Rudy essentially finds his experiences with and in AlcoholicsAnonymous impressive with respect to validating the ideas and practices ofAA. There's one of them now, right there." Rudy had an experiencewhich shows that no matter how objective he believed himself to be, nomatter how much he might scientifically note the benefits of AA, no matterhow much he might have been "accepted" by the actual members of the group,he was still not able to allow himself to be seen as one of the group byeven these two drunken outsiders: "Before they turned and walked away, webriefly looked at each other. After a list of personal explanations from recovering members of AAwith respect to their lonely, desperate drinking experiences, Rudy writesthat "The loneliness and isolation of these explanations are the exactopposite of the sharing, love, and involvement of the typical AA setting.AA members frequently describe in testimonials the warmth, intimacy, caringand sharing that typify the 'fellowship of AA.' Perhaps the AA society'sreestablishment of social relationships ..... Rudy'sBecoming Alcoholic: Alcoholics Anonymous and the Reality of Alcoholism. Restriction of alcohol sales to individuals 18 or 21has not kept children from obtaining alcohol, just as Prohibition did notwork. The "war on drugs" or "drug control" in any form will not stop thealcohol/drug program. Many members . Theinteractionist element emphasizes the collective nature of most humanbehavior. Society's approachon a political and governmental level indicates ongoing ignorance as to thenature of alcoholism and drug addiction, summed up in the "Just Say No"campaign. 135-136). For example, Flores writes, in response to the charge thatAA "promulgates a simplistic, naive disease concept of alcoholism": "AA'sconcept of alcoholism as a disease is neither simplistic not naive ....While the original (AA) hypothesis that alcoholism was an allergy has neverbeen proven, many of today's biologically oriented researchers . Every reputable alcohol and/or drug rehabilitation program in thecountry is deeply indebted to AA for its methods and philosophy, but Goode,writing a 32 -page book on drugs in America, has only two insignificantreferences to AA.Philip Flores, on the other hand, in Group Psychotherapy with AddictedPopulations, openly advocates AA as the primary road to sobriety as well asspiritual growth for alcoholics seeking recovery, and defends AA againstits detractors. . It is as if Goode refuses to recognize theorganization and the spiritual path which have had more effect on bringingalcoholics into sobriety and keeping them there than any other organizationor path. '" (Rudy, 1986, p. The perspective of Rudy is relatively unique in that he truly seemsto seek such middle-of-the-road objectivity, in comparison to other workswhich seem to openly argue for or against AA as the primary avenue forrecovery from alcoholism. This theoretical perspective is especially useful, again, because itdeals with the importance of symbols in human affairs and because AA is anorganization which deals in spiritual matters, matters which are themselvesmore conducive to symbolic rather than concrete study. As mentioned, Goode's book is hardly appropriate as a basis forcomparison with Rudy's book, primarily because Goode deals in an utterlysuperficial way with AA, if it can be said that he deals at all with AA.The two books do deal,with the nature of alcoholism, however, and here wehave the basis for contrast. The measurement of alcoholism and thenature of AA in dealing with alcoholics does not focus on the precise andspecific quantities of a particular moment, but rather on "processualexplanations of phenomena." Any researcher who enters the realm ofalcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous and hopes and/or expects to emerge fromhis study with a final definition and fixed and comprehensive understandingof those entities will surely be disappointed. Theweakness, obviously, is rooted more in the dynamic nature of the materialunder study than in the theory and methodologies selected. Clearly, Rudy does demonstrate a willingness and an ability to treadthe middle ground of reasonable objectivity in comparison to theperspectives of Goode, who ignores AA almost entirely, and Flores, who isan open and bold advocate of the means and principles of AA. 134). . Works CitedFlores, Philip J. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989.Rudy, David R. As Rudywrites in the Notes section of his book, "Nearly half of the reviews thataddressed my relationship to AA charged that I had gone 'native' [i.e.,fallen under the spell of AA and lost scientific objectivity] while theother half argued that I have been superficial or ethnocentric [i.e.,failed to deeply enough appreciate the worth of AA]. In fact, the vast majority of theprofessionals in the field wholeheartedly agree on the disease model ofalcoholism, and practice in their recovery programs the fundamentals of AA,including the Twelve Steps and the AA insistence that a spiritual need liesat the heart of recovery. Weakened interpersonal supportsystems, permissive and ambivalent sanctioning responses, normalization ofdeviant drinkers by others, and withdrawal are factors contributing towardthe development of drinking problems" (Rudy, 1986, p. The methodological techniques utilized instudying the process of becoming alcoholic and the events leading tomembership in AA were participant observation and in-depth interviewing inthe form of topical life histories. 119-12 ). For example, it is an important, even crucial, element of theresearcher's effectiveness in dealing with groups that he be seen by themembers of that group as at least an objective observer. To simply tell a youngster who is lonely and frightened and uncertainof his place in the world and perhaps unwilling even to go home afterschool to an abusive and/or alcoholic parent --- to simply tell that childto "Just Say No" is to demonstrate an overwhelming ignorance about thenature of alcoholism and drug addiction. The strengths of Rudy's symbolic interactionist theoretical approach,and his use of participant observation and in-depth interviewingmethodologies, are that they are appropriate to the material at hand, andthat they will yield the most and most useful data for analysis. Measurement approaches and theories obviously vary, andthe more fluid and dynamic and open to interpretation the material at hand(such as alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous), the more flexible and fluidthe methodologies must necessarily be. Rudy's objectivity is emphasized by his honesty about his ownfeelings. Whereas Rudy essentially agrees with AA thatalcoholism is most effectively treated when seen as a disease (from whichthe alcoholic never fully recovers, but can achieve an ongoing recoverythrough complete abstinence and the practice of the principles of the AAprogram), Goode presents an array of perspectives, never focusing on anyone of them, and then essentially rejecting the AA view that an alcoholiccan never drink without the return of the disease in a full-blown fashion.The very language of Goode indicates his underlying assumptions. The theoretical approach of Rudy is that of symbolic interactionism:"Both the conception of deviance and social control underlying the presentresearch as well as the theoretical underpinnings of participantobservation and life histories draw heavily from a symbolic interactionistperspective. Certainly Rudy's approach and perspective are made unique by suchhonesty, which is not commonly found in scholarly research which too oftenseems to want to give the impression that it was created by a superiorbeing or a mechanical force whose utter objectivity should never bequestioned. "Just Say No" simply will not do associal policy if the country truly believes in a comprehensive andeffective drug/alcohol program on a national level. are more concerned about the effectiveness ofutilizing the disease concept rather than engaging in polemics aboutwhether alcoholism fits the right criteria for the true definition ofdisease" (Flores, 1988, pp. 95-96). I interpret suchdisagreement as support that I have successfully straddled the middle ofthe road" (Rudy, 1986, p. If we briefly look at two other researchers' perspectives, we canbetter appreciate the efforts of Rudy to remain in the "middle of the road"in his study of AA and alcoholism. Rudy recognizes this, and his methodologies are appropriate as aresult --- participant observation and in-depth interviewing.Nevertheless, as appropriate as the methodologies may be, they depend onthe insight of the researcher, as well as on the honesty of the subjects,for their significance and accuracy. Rudy writes that, "Just when I felt 'accepted' in the field[i.e., in his field research into AA], an experience occurred thatquestioned my empathy skills." Rudy was coming out of an AA meeting whenhe was approached by two inebriated individuals coming out of a bar nearby. . While Rudy's perspective is certainly marked by an appreciation forthe benefits of Alcoholics Anonymous for alcoholics who seek sobriety, heis nevertheless objective and balanced in his analysis of AA. 119). If he is seen asan outsider, the members of the group will be less likely to be honest withhim or to behave as they would if such a perceived outsider were notpresent. This study will provide a critical analysis of David R. Rudy offers the reader criticisms of AA, whileat the same time making clear that there are indeed many benefits presentedto alcoholics by AA, benefits which are not yet available from othersources. Rudy's book explores the reasonsbehind the success of Alcoholics Anonymous, and those reasons in thiscontext suggest that a communal rather than an individual approach isrequired. Erich Goode, in Drugs in AmericanSociety, amazingly makes only three mentions of AA---and one of those"mentions," listed in the index, is not even on the page the author claims. Becoming Alcoholic. The "Just Say No"approach implies that it is an individual matter---both the use of alcoholand drugs and the refusal to use them. Rudy concludes that AA seems to have the best and most effectiveanswers to alcoholism in society today, and that other, more legalistic andrestrictive approaches have not had a significant effect: "Perhaps once weunderstand that 'law making is not behavior making' and that televisioncommercials, product labeling, and drug education programs in our schoolsstill leave us with an alcohol problem, we will begin to think aboutdrinking and drinking problems differently and explore, in a variety ofsettings, those basic interpersonal ties and responsibilities that tend togrow within Alcoholics Anonymous" (Rudy, 1986, p. The other two mentions are included in the personal account of arecovering alcoholics That account first rejects AA, then seems to acceptit as a path to sobriety, but after that it is not mentioned again (Goode,1989, pp. NewYork: Haworth, 1988.Goode, Erich. The symbolic interactionist theory of Rudy should also be adopted asthe basis for public policy treatment and prevention programs.Essentially, we have covered the symbolic element of the theory --- humanaffairs are composed of more than merely physical activities; they alsoinclude symbolic factors which, in this case, involve spiritual needs. Hewrites, for example, of "recovered" alcoholics (as if there were suchbeings), and claims that "very little is conclusively agreed upon in thisfield" (Goode, 1989, p. Not only do methodologies shape, define, and focus researchstrategies, they are also shaped by the nature and material of the researchitself. . This must be, as in AA, a matter first andlast of individual choice, individual responsibility, individual commitment--- always within the communal environment such as is provided byAlcoholics Anonymous and such as is recommended by Rudy. The argument with respect to alcoholism is that the individualdrinks deviantly as a part of collective action, and he recovers as a partof collective action: "From an interactionist perspective, deviantdesignations are best viewed as outcomes or culminations of many collectiveactions between participants" (Rudy, 1986, pp. These techniques are effective inunderstanding the world as the actor experiences it and are conducive toproviding processual explanations of phenomena" (Rudy, 1986, p. 112). Certainly peer pressure plays a role inalcoholism/addiction, and peer pressure can also play a part in initiatingrecovery. The "Just Say No"approach implies that a person who says yes is somehow evil, or immoral, orweak. are tools that shape, define, andfocus research strategies. Treatment and prevention programs, then, should emphasize thecommunal, collective nature of both alcoholism/addiction and recovery fromalcoholism/addiction. The symbolic interactionist perspective conceives humans asliving in symbolic as well as physical environments, and it emphasizes thathumans are stimulated to act by symbolic as well as by physical stimuli"(Rudy, 1986, pp. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.