Question by PeaceLoveUnityRespect: What would a symbolic interactionism theorist, conflict theorist, and functionalist think of alcoholism?
It’s for a sociology project. I’m bad at research, and I need help. How would these three types of theorists view alcoholism, and which would best explain alcoholism? Cite your sources, please and thank you 🙂

Best answer:

Answer by C
I’m assuming intro to Sociology? haha. Here is a brief breakdown. Please do not plagiarize. Try to understand the “rules” governing the different theories/frameworks and then APPLY different sets of facts to each theory (like alcoholism):

1. Symbolic Interactionism. SI takes a micro-level approach to interactions between people, institutions, and groups. What this means is that the environment, value-sets of each party, social roles, norms, and so on are all considered in the interaction. George Herbert Mead, Goffman, Weber, Blumer, Dewey, and to some extent Freud (among others) are all influential within this framework (I will not be citing individual works, as that would constitute an entire syllabus). Alcoholism would be addressed within this paradigm by looking at the social setting of the individual experiencing alcoholism and those around him/her that are influential and/or are influenced by him/her. For instance, if Joe is suffering from alcoholism and Joe is from an Irish family that drinks liberally and celebrates heavily with alcohol, then when addressing his alcoholism, one would need to consider this distinct value set and culture. In his family, alcohol use was supported to a greater extent then some other groups. This framework would consider alcoholism an individual problem (limited to the person and his or her immediate network) that would need to be addressed at a micro-level.

2. Conflict Theory. Here you should check out C. Wright Mills and Marx. This theoretical framework looks at inequality (including power, money, status, etc.) and the resulting conflict it causes. Marx looked at inequality of means of production and the resulting division of society into classes. In the context of alcoholism we would likely argue that the unequal distribution of and access to education, power, employment, and money, etc. leads to fewer opportunities for minorities, the lower class and other marginalized groups resulting in these groups disproportionately suffering from alcoholism compared to their higher SES counterparts. This could be attributable to various factors including restricted access to medical/psychological treatment, money for treatment, education to prevent abuse, employment (which could positively affect substance abuse), etc.

3. Functionalism. See Herbet Spencer, among others. Alright, this is like a macro-aggregate model. Here we consider how institutions and culture affect “reality” and behavior. What are the norms, values, traditions, etc. of a group? Alcoholism within this context would likely consider how American society “abuses” alcohol in high school and (especially) college cultures. Rather than teaching students that alcohol is a way to relax at dinner, it is a “forbidden fruit” of sorts, leading to excessive use (e.g., binge drinking) in young adulthood. Furthermore, alcoholism is largely considered a personal problem and not something that concerns the larger community or state, as a result, a continuing problem with alcohol could be traced to our culture of meritocracy/individualism (attributable in large part to Protestant roots).

As far as what BEST explains alcoholism? That’s the beauty of sociology… everything is relative. There is no one right answer. Alcoholism can be explained in a number of ways. These theories are only a guideline from which we can address different issues. You can easily make an argument about which one better, but they are entirely different approaches.

Good luck.

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Question by Maryy: What percent of rehabilitated people actually are cured?
ok so this is for a project….
does anyone know what percent of rehabilitated people get out and dont do the same mistake agian??? (i.e.- they would use drugs daily, went to rehab, then when they got out they quit completly)
i searched yahoo, google, and ask jeeves. i did all of my project and this is just a small part of it wich isnt really gonna be graded so keep your useless coments to yourself

Best answer:

Answer by raysny
Rehabs often claim amazing results, but the reality is less than spectacular.

According to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_addiction
“The effectiveness of alcoholism treatments varies widely. When considering the effectiveness of treatment options, one must consider the success rate based on those who enter a program, not just those who complete it. Since completion of a program is the qualification for success, success among those who complete a program is generally near 100%. It is also important to consider not just the rate of those reaching treatment goals but the rate of those relapsing. Results should also be compared to the roughly 5% rate at which people will quit on their own. A year after completing a rehab program, about a third of alcoholics are sober, an additional 40 percent are substantially improved but still drink heavily on occasion, and a quarter have completely relapsed.”

That estimate is based on information from Dr. Mark Willenbring of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and in my opinion, optomistic.

” About 80 percent of addiction patients will relapse, studies suggest, and long-term success rates for treatment are estimated at 10-30 percent.
“The therapeutic community claims a 30 percent success rate, but they only count people who complete the program,” noted Joseph A. Califano Jr., of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. “Seventy to eighty percent drop out in three to six months.” ”
http://www.addictioninfo.org/articles/1633/1/Little-Evidence-that-Costly-Treatment-Programs-Work/Page1.html

90-95% of rehabs in the US are 12step-based. The rest are Scientology or religion-based.

The 12step treatment method has been shown to have about a 5% success rate, the same as no treatment at all:

Although the success rate is the same, AA harms more people than no treatment:
1) Dr. Brandsma found that A.A. increased the rate of binge drinking, and
2) Dr. Ditman found that A.A. increased the rate of rearrests for public drunkenness, and
3) Dr. Walsh found that “free A.A.” made later hospitalization more expensive, and
4) Doctors Orford and Edwards found that having a doctor talk to the patient for just one hour was just as effective as a whole year of A.A.-based treatment.
5) Dr. George E. Vaillant, the A.A. Trustee, found that A.A. treatment was completely ineffective, and raised the death rate in alcoholics. No other way of treating alcoholics produced such a high death rate as did Alcoholics Anonymous.
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-letters85.html

1) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Brandsma
2) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Ditman
3) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Walsh
4) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Orford
5) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Vaillant

Add your own answer in the comments!

Question by Maryy: What percent of rehabilitated people actually are cured?
ok so this is for a project….
does anyone know what percent of rehabilitated people get out and dont do the same mistake agian??? (i.e.- they would use drugs daily, went to rehab, then when they got out they quit completly)
i searched yahoo, google, and ask jeeves. i did all of my project and this is just a small part of it wich isnt really gonna be graded so keep your useless coments to yourself

Best answer:

Answer by raysny
Rehabs often claim amazing results, but the reality is less than spectacular.

According to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_addiction
“The effectiveness of alcoholism treatments varies widely. When considering the effectiveness of treatment options, one must consider the success rate based on those who enter a program, not just those who complete it. Since completion of a program is the qualification for success, success among those who complete a program is generally near 100%. It is also important to consider not just the rate of those reaching treatment goals but the rate of those relapsing. Results should also be compared to the roughly 5% rate at which people will quit on their own. A year after completing a rehab program, about a third of alcoholics are sober, an additional 40 percent are substantially improved but still drink heavily on occasion, and a quarter have completely relapsed.”

That estimate is based on information from Dr. Mark Willenbring of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and in my opinion, optomistic.

” About 80 percent of addiction patients will relapse, studies suggest, and long-term success rates for treatment are estimated at 10-30 percent.
“The therapeutic community claims a 30 percent success rate, but they only count people who complete the program,” noted Joseph A. Califano Jr., of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. “Seventy to eighty percent drop out in three to six months.” ”
http://www.addictioninfo.org/articles/1633/1/Little-Evidence-that-Costly-Treatment-Programs-Work/Page1.html

90-95% of rehabs in the US are 12step-based. The rest are Scientology or religion-based.

The 12step treatment method has been shown to have about a 5% success rate, the same as no treatment at all:

Although the success rate is the same, AA harms more people than no treatment:
1) Dr. Brandsma found that A.A. increased the rate of binge drinking, and
2) Dr. Ditman found that A.A. increased the rate of rearrests for public drunkenness, and
3) Dr. Walsh found that “free A.A.” made later hospitalization more expensive, and
4) Doctors Orford and Edwards found that having a doctor talk to the patient for just one hour was just as effective as a whole year of A.A.-based treatment.
5) Dr. George E. Vaillant, the A.A. Trustee, found that A.A. treatment was completely ineffective, and raised the death rate in alcoholics. No other way of treating alcoholics produced such a high death rate as did Alcoholics Anonymous.
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-letters85.html

1) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Brandsma
2) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Ditman
3) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Walsh
4) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Orford
5) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Vaillant

Add your own answer in the comments!