Becoming Alcoholic

Affiliation with Alcoholics Anonymous parallels religious conversion, according to David R. Rudy in this timely study of the most famous self-help organization in the world.Drinkers who commit themselves to Alcoholics Anonymous embrace the radically different life-style, the altered world of the convert.To understand this conversion and, more important, to get a grip on the even deeper mystery of alcoholism itself, Rudy sought to answer these three questions: What processes are involved in becoming alcoholic? How does the alcoholic affiliate with, and become committed to, A. A. s belief system? What is the relationship between the world of A. A. members and that constructed by alcohologists?Rudy establishes the history and structure of A. A. and examines the organization s relationship to dominant sociological models, theories, and definitions of alcoholism."