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Paper Abstract: Reviews studies showing a relationship between physical attractiveness & persuasive ability. Argues that advertisers & others use this relationship to make their messages more effective. Paper Introduction: The problem of alcoholism is viewed as a major social problem, one that has an impact not only on the individual and not only on his or her family but on society as a whole. Society pays a price for a high incidence of alcoholism in the form of work days missed, health issues, medical expenses, devastation wrought by drunk drivers, and so on. Alcoholism has been examined from a number of different perspectives in an attempt to explain its etiology or its consequences. The prevailing perspective is the medical model, which holds that alcoholism is a disease, which also means that it can be treated through medical means. This approach has its limitations, however, and a viable alternative perspective that is based on a different etiology and a different methodology for addressing the issue is the sociological perspective. 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. The parallel existence of the medical and sociological models hasproduced a number of attempts to maintain elements of each and to assignsome types of alcoholism to the medical model and some to the sociologicalmodel. Ben-Yehuda (199 ) argues that the meaning of the concept of devianceneed not be confined to the narrower negative interpretation, but should beinclusive of positive deviance as well. Early antisocial behavior can be seen as apredictor of drug abuse, but it is a less strong predictor of lateralcoholism. ReferencesBauman, K. The issue has been examinedempirically in a few studies, and sociological theories have been developedto explain the relationship between alcoholism and various social factorsincluding urbanization, economic development, social movements, classdistinctions and tensions, ethnic background, and so on. Numerous studies have addressed the issue of alcoholism in terms ofits onset in the teenage years, with special reference to social pressuresand sociological explanations for drinking in this population. Schneider (1978) examines deviant drinking as a disease and takes thehistorical point of view toward the medical model. Whether the sociological model or thedisease model is the one adhered to determines how the theorists andpractitioner answers a host of questions relating to the problem and itstreatment. Deviance, social control, and socialdevelopmental theories help explain youth drug misuse (pp. Alcoholism in thisview is a medical and not a social problem, a problem brought about not bysocial forces but by a tendency of the alcoholic to be affectedbiologically by the drug of alcohol. 63)Fingarette notes that all drinking patterns reflect cultural and ethnicnorms. The issues to be addressed include: -what types of society produce an alcohol problem. Robbins (1989) investigated sex differences in the relationship ofpsychosocial problems to levels of substance use using data from the 1985National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. 225-239). Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 117- 13 .Schneider, J. The disease concept of alcoholism has a long history in America and has been supported both by medical and non- medical people and organizations for a wide variety of reasons. The results are with a styles ofdeviance perspective. Malabar, Florida: Robert E. 362). (p. 117-13 ). Mosby.Endleman, R. (1988). He argues that current studies emphasize thepsychological traits of samples characterized by high degrees ofpowerlessness and low socioeconomic status. 211-223). Since one hope is to predict a tendency toward alcoholism and thus tohelp prevent it, Hawkins, Lishner, Catalano, and Howard (1985) discussetiological risk factors and theoretical models of childhood and adolescentalcohol and drug use and abuse. Deviant Behavior, 211-223.Klemke, L. Journal of Children in Contemporary Society, 11-48.Henslin, J. Results also showed that peer acceptance was crucial for themaintenance of positive self-esteem and that there was a significantconnection between perceived parental pressure and the relationship betweenself-esteem and reported deviant behavior. Intolerance of Minor Deviance had the strongest totalcausal effect on present alcohol use in both the multiple regression andthe path model. Adolescence, 5 1-515.Fingarette, H. In T. He proposes the reinforcement (or addictive) model as analternative to dealing with alcohol problems, noting as well thepossibility of bridges between Alcoholics Anonymous-oriented andreinforcement-oriented therapies. Combs, Helzer, and Miller (1988) testedthe labeling theory of deviance, which contends that being labeled byothers as an alcoholic results in the acceptance of self-labels and a self-fulfilling prophecy of alcoholic behavior. Alcohol is usuallynot considered to be a drug at all, though it certainly is; the fact thatit is not so viewed shows that it is treated differently in a number ofways from drug abuse. Alcohol and culture: comparative perspectives from Europe and America. (1986). Deviant Behavior, 225-239.Miller, W. (1986). The generality of deviance in late adolescence and early adulthood. There is also an economic factor involved in drinking patterns -under certain circumstances, an increase in the cost of alcohol exerts adownward influence on the amount of drinking, including heavy drinking.Even chronic heavy drinkers respond to the price of alcohol, as seen in thefact that as prices increase, mortality from liver cirrhosis declines(liver cirrhosis occurs primarily among heavy, long-term drinkers, but itis quickly arrested if drinking stops). (1991 Winter). Social Problems, 361-372.----------------------- 1 An important classof sociological theories of alcoholism refers specifically tothe sociology of deviance.The Medical Model The medical model or disease model sees alcoholism as a sicknesswhich can be analyzed and treated by medical means. New York: New York Academy of Sciences.Osgood, D. -the relationship between dependence and the abuse of alcohol. Compared to women, men report higher levels ofalcohol and drug abuse during the past year and are more likely than womento have experienced each of 17 psychosocial problems resulting from alcoholor drug use. 123).The Sociological Model Cahalan (1988) states that the disease model of alcoholism has hadboth positive and negative effects upon not only the treatment ofalcoholism, but also on the quality and economics of medical care. (1985 Fall- Winter). Childhood predictors of adolescent substance abuse: Toward an empirically grounded theory. L. These scales measured Intolerance ofMinor Deviance, Perceived Parental Approval of Teenage Drinking, andDrinking Standards. Attitudes, beliefs, and personalitytraits showing a lack of social bond between the individual and society areinvolved in delinquency and drug use. On the other hand, the sociological model views the emergence ofthe medical model as a historical development rather than an explanation. Explicit and implicit argumentsfrom the literature for the concept of positive deviance show that thesociology of deviance seems to suffer from theoretical chaos and a failureto consider total social structure, thus falling into a trap of small scalestudies about various esoteric, sensational types of deviance (p. 92). Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 96-113.Combs-Orme, T., Helzer, J. The model of deviance has been applied to the use of alcohol and toother behaviors across a number of demographic and cultural dimensions.O'Malley and Bachman (1988) incorporated three waves of self-reports aboutheavy alcohol use, marijuana use, use of other illicit drugs, dangerousdriving, and other criminal behavior for 717 high school seniors. Of further interest was theextent to which types of behaviors connoted acceptance or rejection of theadult world. (Schneider, 1978, p. He alsotakes a historical perspective and discusses the medicalization ofdeviance, noting how prevention programs have been neglected under thismodel. Haunted by the Zeitgeist: Reflections on contrasting treatment goals and concepts of alcoholism in Europe and the United States. Louis: C.V. Drugs and Society, 49-68.Cherry, A. The main deviant modes of adaptations for the deviant actorare identified as: 1) deviance seeking; 2) deviance maintenance; 3) dazedconsciousness; and 4) deviance erasing. (p. A social bond: An application of control theory in the study of alcohol use among college seniors. Sex differences in psychosocial consequences of alcohol and drug abuse. This also suggests a sociological causefor drinking in this population. The question is posed as to why some people, but not others,commit deviant acts even though they know those acts will be negativelyviewed by others and bring sanctions on themselves. M., Catalano, R. The only significant influence of one type of deviance onanother was that of marihuana use on later use of other illicit drugs (pp.81-93). Association with drug-using peers is a strongpredictor of adolescent drug use. Simonemphasizes the need to address affective responses to alienation,propertylessness, intrinsic and extrinsic needs, job/work involvement,trust and organizational deviance, and inauthenticity within bureaucraticsettings (pp. He states that whether somethingis a disease or not depends on significant portions of the medicalcommunity accepting the definition or not opposing the definition as usedby those in other fields. Krieger.Eskilson, A., Wiley, M. Instead, they have suggested that there may beno such thing as a "typical alcoholic" or a unitary "alcoholism" but thatinstead there may be several different alcoholisms, which would be amenableto different treatments once they were detected, assessed, and diagnosed(Miller, 1986, p. The assumption often held isthat alienation is a set of consciously held attitudinal variables. Deviant modes of adaptations to a deviant involvement. O. 221-243). The strongest predictor of all alcoholiclabels was the total number of lifetime problems with alcohol. Three scales related to social bond accounted for 81 percent ofthe variance in current alcohol use. Endleman (199 ) describes the sociological model for alcoholism in alarger context of the sociological model of drug abuse. (p. F., & Howard, M. Political conditions can alsoaffect heavy drinking, as happened in France during World War II, theUnited States during Prohibition, and in Sweden when more liberal liquor-laws were adopted (pp. 113)Endleman sees alcoholics and other drug abusers as retreatist because theyare negative on using standard legitimate means to get what they seek andnegative in what they are pursuing in relation to culturally prescribedgoals. Poor academic performance and lack of commitment to educationare related to drug use. The deviant responses, for othersaware of the initial deviant act, are identified as deviance bandwagon anddeviance retaliation modes of adaptations. F. Cherry (1991) developed psychosocial scales based on the concept ofsocial bond to measure alcohol use among 3 7 female and 159 male collegeseniors. Subjects were interviewed 5-8 years after admission toa treatment facility to determine if they were now drinking moderately vs.abstaining or drinking heavily. There are different cultural patterns for drinking within Americansociety. M. (1988 February). Drinking and possibly drug abuse appeared to be seen as adultbehaviors, whereas property damage may be seen as assaultingrepresentations of adult power (pp. M., & Bachman, J. Deviant Behavior, 221-243.Cahalan, D. 63-65).Sociological Theory and Deviance Henslin (1988) utilizes the framework of individualism vs.structuralism to provide an overview of theory in the sociology ofdeviance. E., & Miller, R. G. This last scale wasthe most proximal variance in the model. 1635-1647). Therespondents were 161 high school and 155 junior high school students whocompleted self-esteem scales and a questionnaire consisting of closed-endquestions with regard to their concerns and needs. He cites Zola (1972) as to the approach taken: My contention is that if anything can be shown in some way to effect [sic] the inner workings of the body and to a lesser extent the mind, then it can be labeled an "illness" or jurisdictionally a "medical problem". They note that studies show strong,consistent correlations between parental drug use (including alcohol andother legal drugs) and the initiation of drug use and abuse by youth; andthey cite other studies that support genetic transmission of primaryalcoholism among males. Deviant drinking as disease: Alcoholism as a social accomplishment. (1978). (198 ). 361)Schneider says he is "concerned with the assertion that there is a diseasecalled alcoholism that is identifiable independent of the specifications ofany conditions believed to be causes or effects of it" (p. W., Johnson, L. Journal of Social Service Research, 73- 91.Conrad, P., & Schneider, J. Babor. Inmultivariate analyses, the Pleasure, Psychological, and Deviance factorswere related to the initiation of beer drinking, while the Pleasure andPsychological factors were associated with beginning to drink hard liquor.Among subjects who were drinkers when first studied, the Trouble WithAuthority factor was related to an increase in beer drinking and thePsychological factor was related to an increase in drinking hard liquor(pp. -whether there is an economic aspect to alcoholism. The data suggest that preventionprograms need to provide ways for students to establish a social bond withthe college community, making it possible to reduce the risk of exposure toheavy alcohol use (pp. Family environmental and interactional variablesseem to impact drug use. Deviance and medicalization. Significant sex by substance use interaction tests forproblem indices and for individual problems suggest that substance abuse isrelated more strongly to intrapsychic problems among women and to problemsin social functioning among men (p. A sociological theory of deviance with considerable support is calledlabeling theory, based on the idea that the drinker may become an alcoholicbecause he or she is so labeled. E. (1988). (1986 Fall). (1988). The prevailingperspective is the medical model, which holds that alcoholism is a disease,which also means that it can be treated through medical means. D., O'Malley, P. Findings indicate that theories that treat different deviantbehaviors as alternative manifestations of a single general tendency canaccount for some, but far from all, of the meaningful variance in thesebehaviors. Klemke (1989) notes that the sociology ofdeviance has traditionally focused on understanding why deviance occurs andaddresses the issue of how, once an individual becomes involved indeviance, that person (and others aware of it) responds to thiscontingency. 49-68). Factor analyses yielded 7 factors for beer and 6 for hard liquor. They studied 349 alcoholics,who varied in the numbers of alcoholic labels they acknowledged from familymembers and others. They feel that this perspective defines theboundaries within which medicine could and should operate, and second thatit suggests that forms of deviant drinking should be managed on the levelof applied sociology, including law enforcement (p. The application of labeling theory to alcoholism. Follow-updrinking status was related to gender and lifetime alcohol problems, withwomen and those acknowledging fewer problems more likely to be drinkingmoderately. The total direct and indirect effects of PerceivedParental Approval of Teenage Drinking were not large but were only slightlysmaller than the genuine effect of Drinking Standards. W. Schneider calls thisthe medicalization of deviant behavior. American Sociological Review, 81-93.Robbins, C. G., Muehlbauer, G., & Dodder, L. The diseaseconcept continued through American history, with more refined models andmore specific medical analyses. The position that deviance canbe viewed as an independent variable in the deviance amplification processis supported by research evidence (pp. A stablegeneral involvement in deviance accounted for virtually all associationbetween different types of deviance, but the stability of each behaviorcould only be explained by equally important and stable specificinfluences. The problem of alcoholism is viewed as a major social problem, onethat has an impact not only on the individual and not only on his or herfamily but on society as a whole. He tracesthe development of the disease model through history, noting the beginningsin the colonial period as elucidated in 1784 by Dr. Benjamin Rush, whostudied the bodily effects of various forms of alcoholic drink and offeredthe first systematic and clinical picture of intoxication. W. -various societal factors contributing to the problem.Different rationales have been offered for alcoholism in primitivesocieties as opposed to complex societies. (199 ). In terms of social attitudes toward drinking,alcohol fits the view of permissive with some control for the country as awhole, though there is considerable variation within the population andeven in different regions of the country. Theorists using thisperspective approach alcoholism in terms of its social aspects, consideringwhat types of society produce an alcoholic problem, whether there is aneconomic aspect to alcoholism, the relationship between dependency and theabuse of alcohol, and various societal dynamics contributing to the alcoholproblem. Deviance and psychopathology. This applies as well to theories of alcoholism as deviance, many of whichfall into the trap of categorization that also befell the medical model. 96-113). 339-356). Endleman notes one problem for sociological models is that thepatterns of drug use are too diverse for any one sociological formulation.Fingarette (1988) states that it is well established that all the manifoldforms and patterns for heavy drinking are substantially affected by social,cultural, economic, and political factors: The more one reads about the very different patterns of heavy drinking in various areas and cultures, the less plausible does it become that there is any one disease - one set symptoms (a syndrome) uniquely associated with alcohol and its metabolism in the body - that could be the sole causal origin of chronic drinking. Parental pressure, self-esteem and adolescent reported deviance: Bending the twig too far. (1989 March). (199 July-September). The consequences expected from alcohol and drinking behavior: A factor analysis of data from a panel study of adolescents. International Journal of the Addictions, 1635-1647.Ben-Yehuda, N. Implications of the disease concept of alcoholism. Addiction to alcohol is seen as an illness ratherthan a sociological problem. R. Heavy drinking. 11-48).Conclusion The sociological model of alcoholism involves a number of dimensionsand perspectives with differing theories as to the etiology of the problemand thus as to its treatment. Results thus did not support the hypothesis that being labeledan alcoholic results in poor drinking outcomes (pp. Conrad and Schneider (198 ) make a distinction between drinkingthat results in problems of living, or problem drinking, and drinking thatis to be called a disease. St. (1988). H. The hypothesis thatperceived parental pressure would be negatively related to adolescents'assessment of their ability to meet goals set by their family was stronglysupported. 37 ) The disease model has been perceived as breaking down in severalaspects in recent years, and even adherents suggest alternatives to theunitary disease conception. They are often seen as having in effect "dropped out" ofconventional society. 73-91). (1988). He suggests a compromise that assumesthat alternative treatments would coexist with the disease model for anindefinite time, though the trend would be toward implementation of modelsthat might be called deviance models or sociological models (pp. Positive and negative deviance: More fuel for a controversy. Thisapproach has its limitations, however, and a viable alternative perspectivethat is based on a different etiology and a different methodology foraddressing the issue is the sociological perspective. Society pays a price for a highincidence of alcoholism in the form of work days missed, health issues,medical expenses, devastation wrought by drunk drivers, and so on.Alcoholism has been examined from a number of different perspectives in anattempt to explain its etiology or its consequences. Los Angeles: University of California Press.Hawkins, J.D., Lishner, D. Bauman (1986) reports on a longitudinal study of 1,423 sixth graderswho completed questionnaires approximately one year apart that assessed thelikelihood and desirability associated with 57 consequences of drinkingbeer and hard liquor (e.g., changes in affect, self-image, peer-relations). This framework can beapplied to major theoretical orientations (e.g., Freudian), each with itsown limitations (pp. After examining this history, Schneiderconcludes: The question of whether or not a given condition constitutes a disease involves issues of politics and ideology - questions of definition, not fact. 151-155). The disease model holds that thecourse of the illness follows a prescribed path through various stagesmarked by degrees of susceptibility and by the manifestation of differentsymptoms. Eskilson,Wiley, Muehlbauer, and Dodder (1986) report on a study of the connectionsbetween perceptions of parental pressure to succeed, self-esteem, andreported deviance among a group of economically advantaged adolescents. This leads to a discussion by Endleman of sociological theories ofdrugs and alcoholism, noting that a category many sociologists have appliedto drug use is "Retreatism," described as follows: Where reaching culturally approved goals in life is blocked, one kind of patterned response is to retreat, i.e., to give up the goals and also give up on legitimate means of achieving those goals. Structuralism and individualism in deviance theory. W. Simon (1986) reviews the literature on alienation and alcohol abusehawking points out dimensions of the term alienation that have yet to berelated to problem drinking. 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.