Alcoholism as a Culturally Contstructed Phenomena: Al-Anon as an Indicator of Cultural Values

Christy Ann Watts, The College of Wooster

Abstract

In this paper I will discuss alcoholism as a culturally contructed phenomena. I will explore alcoholism in a cross-cultural perspective to demonstrate the variance that exists in alcohol customs and beliefs. I will discuss how members of an Al-Anon group make sense of the various etiological theories that the academic world offers to explain alcholism. For the purpose of my study, I used the Al-Anon program to exemplify how alcoholism is symbolic of underlying cultural assumptions.

 

© Copyright 1997 Christy Ann Watts