Teaching and Learning Guide for: In the Spirit of Selden Bacon: The Sociology of Drinking and Drug Problems
Authors: Freed Christopher R. 
Published: January 2011

This guide accompanies the following article: Christopher R. Freed, ‘In the Spirit of Selden Bacon: The Sociology of Drinking and Drug Problems’, Sociology Compass 4/10 (2010): 856–868, 10.1111/j.1751‐9020.2010.00325.x.

Author’s introduction

In 1943, the sociologist Selden Bacon proposed studying drinking behavior from a ‘sociologic’ perspective. Since then a problem‐oriented approach – a sociology of problem drinking and problem drug use, not a sociology of drinking and drug use behavior – has dominated the literature on alcohol and other drugs. However, the literature reveals a sociology of drinking and drug problems in the spirit of the research that Bacon proposed. The sociology of drinking and drug problems exposes the considerable influence of ‘sociologic’ factors on problem drinking and problem drug use and, in particular, that problem drinking and problem drug use are not caused exclusively by biologic traits. However, more research needs to analyze the normal use of alcohol and other drugs to better understand the connection between substance use and social life.

Author recommends

Bacon, Selden D. 1943. ‘Sociology and the Problems of Alcohol: Foundations for a Sociologic Study of Drinking Behavior.’Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol 4
: 402–45.

In this seminal article, Bacon proposes a research plan for the ‘sociologic’ study of drinking behavior. Bacon urges sociologists to examine the functions of alcohol consumption; the manner and method by which alcohol is consumed, including where, when, and with whom; and drinking norms, sanctions, and sanctioning agents. Bacon also recommends that sociologists who study alcohol consider race, socio‐economic status, and occupation, social and cultural mores and institutional demands, social change, and how drinking comportment, habits, customs, and roles are learned.

Becker, Howard S. 1953. ‘Becoming a Marihuana User.’American Journal of Sociology 59: 235–42.

Becker argues that regular marijuana use is a learned behavior. Based on 50 interviews with musicians, laborers, and white‐collar professionals who use marijuana, Becker suggests that novice marijuana users do not continue to use marijuana unless they learn from experienced users: (i) how to properly smoke marijuana, (ii) how to recognize its effects, and (iii) how to enjoy those effects.

Fingarette, Herbert. 1988. Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as a Disease. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Fingarette proposes that Americans have been so inundated with the idea that alcoholism is a disease that they overlook personal and scientific observations that indicate heavy drinkers can control their alcohol consumption. Heavy drinking is not a disease, Fingarette states, but a ‘central activity’ in the lives of some drinkers: heavy drinkers organize their daily life around drinking and look for settings that promise and promote heavy drinking. Heavy drinking, similar to all central activities, carries momentum and becomes a difficult pattern to break.

Levine, Harry G. 1978. ‘The Discovery of Addiction: Changing Conceptions of Habitual Drunkenness in America.’Journal of Studies on Alcohol 39: 143–74.

In this classic article, Levine argues that the mid‐19th century development of market capitalism and middle‐class society in America led to the discovery of addiction. Rapid social change and related social problems prompted medical professionals, religious leaders, and the American public to regard alcohol as inherently addicting and alcohol consumption as dangerous for society. Levine also traces the historical evolution of ideas concerning the cause and nature of alcohol addiction.

Lindesmith, Alfred R. 1968. Addiction and Opiates, Rev. edn. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company.

Lindesmith finds that opiate users experience addiction only if they learn by observation or experience how to recognize opiate withdrawal, link withdrawal to their opiate use, and then use opiates again to relieve their withdrawal distress. According to Lindesmith, persons who do not become ‘enlightened’ about the symptoms of opiate withdrawal do not become addicted to opiates.

MacAndrew, Craig and Robert B. Edgerton. 1969. Drunken Comportment: A Social Explanation. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company.

MacAndrew and Edgerton question the conventional wisdom that drinkers lose control when they consume alcohol. MacAndrew and Edgerton acknowledge that alcohol affects drinkers pharmacologically, but they also provide a wealth of anthropological evidence that reveals drunken comportment is ‘societally sanctioned.’ Cultural norms and values socialize individuals how to behave during different drinking situations.

Pittman, David J. and Charles R. Snyder. (eds) 1962. Society, Culture, and Drinking Patterns. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

This volume consists of some of the most influential analyses of alcohol consumption and alcoholism in the social science literature, organized under five different themes: (i) the anthropology of drinking, (ii) modern setting, (iii) social structure and subcultures, (iv) the origin and patterns of alcoholism, and (v) responsive movements and systems of control.

Reinarman, Craig and Harry G. Levine. (eds) 1997. Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Reinarman and Levine bring together essays about the crack scare in America that occurred during the late 1980s and the early 1990s. This important work in the sociology of alcohol and other drugs covers four broad areas: (i) myths and realities, (ii) crack in comparable societies, (iii) the price of repression, and (iv) punitive prohibition and harm reduction.

Waldorf, Dan, Craig Reinarman, and Sheigla Murphy. 1991. Cocaine Changes: The Experience of Using and Quitting. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Waldorf, Reinarman, and Murphy suggest that a ‘stake in conventional life’– a family, finances, a job, and social status, for example – helps heavy cocaine users control their use or even quit using cocaine. Health problems and diminishing pleasure from cocaine also help control use. Whatever cocaine users value and prioritize in their lives can be more powerful than the pharmacological effects of cocaine.

Online materials

Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies Library

http://alcoholstudies.rutgers.edu/library/index.html

The Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies Library holds a wide‐ranging collection of resources on the medical, psychological, and social aspects of alcohol and other drug use and abuse. The library’s Alcohol Studies Database provides searchable access to over 80,000 works on alcohol and other drugs, including audio–visual materials. The Alcohol History Database covers alcohol‐related subjects from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 2009).

Alcohol Research Group Library, Public Health Institute

http://www.arg.org/resources/library.php

The Alcohol Research Group Library contains almost 70,000 works on alcohol and other drugs from social, cultural, and legal perspectives. The library also holds items related to treatment and prevention (Public Health Institute 2010).

The New York Academy of Medicine Library

http://www.nyam.org/library/

The New York Academy of Medicine Library houses a medical collection of over 550,000 works, a portion of which will soon be directly available online. The library’s historical collection consists of resources from as early as 1700 BC on the history of medicine, public health, and other health care fields. Researchers and the general public can search most of these materials through the library’s online catalog (The New York Academy of Medicine 2010).

The Chester H. Kirk Collection, Brown University Library

http://dl.lib.brown.edu/libweb/collections/kirk/index.php

The Chester H. Kirk Collection consists of works on alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous. Related collections at the Brown University Library include: the Robert Holbrook Smith Collection of Books, Manuscripts and Memorabilia, the Rutgers Anti‐Saloon League Collection of Temperance and Addiction Studies Periodicals, the Archives of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc., the Ernest Kurtz Collection on Alcoholism, and the Clarence Snyder Alcoholics Anonymous Collection. These collections are searchable through Josiah, the online catalog of Brown University Library (Brown University Library 2010).

Division on Addictions, Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School

http://www.divisiononaddictions.org/

The Division on Addictions provides researchers, policy advocates, and the public with information about addiction to alcohol, drugs, and gambling. Through its Library and Archives portal, the Division offers access to scholarly articles authored by its staff and to the weekly BASIS, the Brief Addiction Science Information Source, a web‐based publication that summarizes and analyzes the latest scientific research on various addiction‐related topics. Other resources of the Division include Expressions of Addiction, a photographic essay that documents individuals during different stages of addiction (Division on Addictions 2010).

Alcohol and Drugs History Society

http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com/

The Alcohol and Drugs History Society provides scholarly and popular information about the history of alcohol and other drugs. Its website consists of interest categories that range in subject from alcohol, to inhalants, to tea. The Alcohol and Drugs History Society website also provides access to back issues of The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs: An Interdisciplinary Journal, the official publication of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society (Alcohol and Drugs History Society 2010).

Sample syllabus

Weeks 1 and 2: Introduction

Bacon, Selden D. 1943. ‘Sociology and the Problems of Alcohol: Foundations for a Sociologic Study of Drinking Behavior.’Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol 4: 402–45.

Freed, Christopher R. 2010. ‘In the Spirit of Selden Bacon: The Sociology of Drinking and Drug Problems.’Sociology Compass 4: 856–68.

Reinarman, Craig and Harry G. Levine. 1997. ‘Crack in Context: America’s Latest Demon Drug.’ Pp. 1–17 and ‘The Crack Attack: Politics and Media in the Crack Scare.’ Pp. 18–51 in Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice, edited by Craig Reinarman and Harry G. Levine. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Week 3: Different people, different ‘genussmittel’

Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. 1992. ‘Preface.’ Pp. xiii–xiv,‘Spices, or the Dawn of the Modern Age.’ Pp. 3–14, ‘Coffee and the Protestant Ethic.’ Pp. 15–84, and ‘Chocolate, Catholicism, Ancien Regime.’ Pp. 85–95 in Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants, translated by David Jacobson. New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Weeks 4 and 5: Constructing and deconstructing the disease concept of alcoholism

Levine, Harry G. 1978. ‘The Discovery of Addiction: Changing Conceptions of Habitual Drunkenness in America.’Journal of Studies on Alcohol 39: 143–74.

Kurtz, Ernest. 1979. ‘Beginnings: November 1934–June 1935. The Limitations of the Drinking Alcoholic.’ Pp. 7–36 in Not‐God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous. Center City, MN: Hazelden.

Seeley, John R. 1962. ‘Alcoholism is a Disease: Implications for Social Policy.’ Pp. 586–93 in Society, Culture, and Drinking Patterns, edited by David J. Pittman and Charles R. Snyder. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Rudy, David R. 1986. ‘A Typology of Careers.’ Pp. 55–69 in Becoming Alcoholic: Alcoholics Anonymous and the Reality of Alcoholism. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Fingarette, Herbert. 1988. ‘What Science Now Knows, but the Public Doesn’t.’ Pp. 1–9, ‘Can Alcoholics Control Their Drinking?’ Pp. 31–47, and ‘Understanding Heavy Drinking as a Way of Life.’ Pp. 99–113 in Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as a Disease. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Week 6: Pharmacological fallacy: The socio‐cultural effect

MacAndrew, Craig and Robert B. Edgerton. 1969. ‘The Conventional Wisdom.’ Pp. 1–12 and ‘Drunkenness as Time Out: An Alternative Solution to the Problem of Drunken Changes‐for‐the‐Worse.’ Pp. 83–99 in Drunken Comportment: A Social Explanation. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company.

Morgan, John P. and Lynn Zimmer. 1997. ‘The Social Pharmacology of Smokeable Cocaine: Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be.’ Pp. 131–70 in Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice, edited by Craig Reinarman and Harry G. Levine. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Week 7: Using and quitting

Lindesmith, Alfred R. 1968. ‘The Nature of Addiction.’ Pp. 69–96 in Addiction and Opiates. Rev. edn. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company.

Becker, Howard S. 1953. ‘Becoming a Marihuana User.’American Journal of Sociology 59: 235–42.

Schaler, Jeffrey A. 2000. ‘Do Drug Addicts Lose It?’ Pp. 21–36 in Addiction Is a Choice. Chicago, IL: Open Court.

Waldorf, Dan, Craig Reinarman, and Sheigla Murphy. 1991. ‘Making Sense of Cessation: A Synthesis.’ Pp. 218–41 in Cocaine Changes: The Experience of Using and Quitting. Philadelphia. PA: Temple University Press.

Week 8: The medical treatment of addiction

White, William L. 2003. ‘The History of ‘Medicinal Specifics’ as Addiction Cures in the United States.’Addiction 98: 261–67.

Armstrong, Elizabeth M. 2003. ‘Medical‐Moral Authority and the Redefinition of Risk in the Twentieth Century.’ Pp. 189–212 in Conceiving Risk, Bearing Responsibility: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome & the Diagnosis of Moral Disorder. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Freed, Christopher R. 2007. ‘Addiction Medicine and Addiction Psychiatry in America: The Impact of Physicians in Recovery on the Medical Treatment of Addiction.’Contemporary Drug Problems 34: 111–35.

Freed, Christopher R. 2010. ‘Addiction Medicine and Addiction Psychiatry in America: Commonalities in the Medical Treatment of Addiction.’Contemporary Drug Problems 37: 139–63.

Week 9: The origins, consequences, and value of punitive prohibition

Reinarman, Craig and Harry G. Levine. 1997. ‘Punitive Prohibition in America.’ Pp. 321–33, Siegel, Loren. 1997. ‘The Pregnancy Police Fight the War on Drugs.’ Pp. 249–59, and Reinarman, Craig and Harry G. Levine. 1997. ‘The Cultural Contradictions of Punitive Prohibition.’ Pp. 334–44 in Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice, edited by Craig Reinarman and Harry G. Levine. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Levine, Harry G. 2002. ‘The Secret of Worldwide Drug Prohibition: The Varieties and Uses of Drug Prohibition.’The Independent Review 7: 165–80.

Week 10: Drug, set, and setting

Zinberg, Norman E. 1984. ‘Preface.’ Pp. vii–xiii in Drug, Set, and Setting: The Basis for Controlled Intoxicant Use. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Zinberg, Norman E. 1972. ‘Heroin Use in Vietnam and the United States: A Contrast and a Critique.’Archives of General Psychiatry 26: 486–88.

Shaffer, Howard J. 1996. ‘Understanding the Means and Objects of Addiction: Technology, the Internet, and Gambling.’Journal of Gambling Studies 12: 461–69.

Room, Robin. 2003. ‘The Cultural Framing of Addiction.’Janus Head 6: 221–34.

Focus topics/questions

 Distinguish the sociological perspective of alcoholism and addiction from the medical model of alcoholism and addiction.

 Describe the social construction of the disease concept of addiction.

 List some of the social factors that cause and contribute to chronic alcohol and drug use.

 How can the sociological perspective on alcoholism and addiction help individuals who suffer from chronic alcohol and drug use?

 Should social and behavioral scientists conduct more research on normal alcohol and drug use? What contribution would this research make to the extant literature on drinking and drug problems?

Project idea

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has profoundly influenced modern conceptions of chronic alcohol and drug use. Ask students to observe one or more local and ‘open’ AA meetings during Weeks 4 and 5. ‘Open’ AA meetings are available to anyone interested in AA whereas ‘closed’ meetings are reserved for members of the organization. AA World Services, Inc. provides a searchable listing of local meetings in the United States and Canada at http://www.aa.org/lang/en/meeting_finder.cfm?origpage=29. For AA meetings in other countries, see http://www.aa.org/lang/en/aa_international.cfm?origpage=31.

Ask students to report on their observations, as related to the assigned readings and class discussions during Weeks 4 and 5, in one of several different oral or written formats. In framing this project, instructors should consider whether students will need approval from an Institutional Review Board to fulfil the assignment, bearing in mind that students have an ethical obligation to preserve the anonymity of the AA members who attend the meeting or meetings that they observe.

References

Alcohol and Drugs History Society. 2010. ‘Alcohol and Drugs History Society: Online Home of The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs.’ Alcohol and Drugs History Society. Retrieved August 28, 2010 (http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com/).

Brown University Library. 2010. ‘Alcohol and Addiction Studies: A Guide to Resources at Brown.’ Providence, RI: Brown University Library. Retrieved August 18, 2010 (http://dl.lib.brown.edu/libweb/collections/kirk/index.php).

Division on Addictions. 2010. ‘About the Division on Addictions.’ Medford, MA: Division on Addictions. Retrieved August 30, 2010 (http://www.divisiononaddictions.org/).

Public Health Institute. 2010. ‘Resources.’ Emeryville, CA: Public Health Institute. Retrieved September 5, 2010 (http://www.arg.org/resources/library.php).

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. 2009. ‘Center of Alcohol Studies Information Services.’ Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Retrieved September 1, 2010 (http://alcoholstudies.rutgers.edu/library/index.html).

The New York Academy of Medicine. 2010. ‘About Us.’ New York, NY: The New York Academy of Medicine. Retrieved September 8, 2010 (http://www.nyam.org/library/).