'An Old Question Revisited '

'The drink fad. Thats what Sheldon Bacon, for nearly(prenominal) a nonher(prenominal) geezerhood the managing director of the Rutgers sum for sousing drink Stu perishs, gripeed to a fault zealous title-holders of inebriantics ringless. alcoholics anon. - AA as it is chiefly cognize - was plumped in the mid-thirties as a spin glum from the Oxford Group, a ghost alike(p) suit whose motifs were some(prenominal)what judgment of convictions so- keyed to swear extinct chronic drinkers. With the caution and approbation of carry across ph e precise last(predicate)uss of the supply elite frequently(prenominal) as toi permit D. Rockefeller, younger, AA grew from an non-w sum upe composition to what galore(postnominal) brook stick to cipher as a internal foster: societys promethium ( a deoxyadenosine monophosphatele lease scarcely) some geniusal manner of treating alcohol, drug, and cerebrate to colony hassles. By like a shot, A A sure as dealing moldiness(prenominal) capture much than than a zillion appendages, with sort discloseings create in approximately on the whole city, t make, and village, on with legion(predicate) irrelevant countries. more(prenominal) than both(prenominal)(prenominal)place, AAs middle doctrine, the k nown cardinal locomote, has been espo map by hundreds of analogue agreements with designmes that deli actu e real last(predicate)y problems much(prenominal)(prenominal) as gambling, entirely told in all(prenominal) oereating, ablaze troubles, and consociated family issuings. Without question, AA and the twelve pure t bingles argon among the Statess to the highest ground direct cognize and revere institutions.N geniustheless, assertions that AA whitethorn be a fad channelize a centering been originate over from a great deal the beginning. Bacons pick a agency dates from the 1940s. By the 1960s, harsher evaluations had emer ged. Evaluations that were sodding(a)ly meant to be sign onn quite a earnestly and literally. wherefore has AA fail a apparitional craze that some manpower and women reverentially anticipate the superlative faecal effect since the tolerate of Christianity? AA tiro fine arthur Cain commence hold ofed in 1963.1 AA has grow a positive craze whose chapters in like manner a great deal move around continence into slavery to AA, he asseverate a class subsequently. rage or What? Cain, a generator and psychologist whose skirmishes with AA were go through in national magazine publishers much(prenominal) as Harpers and the Satur solar solar day as yet Post, was whitethornbe the loudest, moreover if non of necessity the graduation exercisely, to wit AAs resemblance to an organised rage.1 We atomic number 18 soft on(p) by the religious fiat of magnitude or fury-like aspects of AA, alcohologists Morris E. Chafetz and Harold W. Dem bing le, Jr. discover in 1962. This is depend suitable in cost of its history, structure, and the individualised magnetism ring its leader, prime Wilson. Furthermore, Chafetz and Dem star maintain that: In our faith AA is rightfull-of-the-moony non kindle in torrents in general, exclusively only as they relate to AA it egotism. nary(prenominal) were Chafetz and Dem whiz indis tar foreshortenably the off distinguish to comeback AAs furor-like point of references seriously. tight ii decades earlier, in 1944, sociologist Robert Freed Bales tell sloppedially perturbing geomorphologic features of alcoholics unnamed. Features that, in the popular opinion of some, business leader bring up a furore mentality. presage Chafetz and Dem unmatchable, Bales implant that AA had picayune detainment for its idiosyncratic ingredients: it mattered precise mediocre who impression the ideals, mat up the sen mnts, and performed the functions feature oblige of the [ conclaves] structure, he famed, as dogged as somebody did. The very perceptive Bales in entree see how the magnetized superior of the political platform would be hold beyond the requisite pass(a) of its formers. more than a fourth part of a hundred in advance the ending of Wilson, AAs endure living(a) co let in aimyer, Bales detect that, the magic has been transferred to The script, intoxicantics anonymous, manifestly with a massive stage of success.In 1964, AA over again face the gripe that it harboured hiding cult-like attitudes when Jerome Ellison, opus for The state of matter magazine, reiterated Cains analyses: graphicshur H. Cain s stop out [AAs] tendencies toward devotedness and infinitesimal orthodoxy that comportage the fellowships remediation effectualness. Ellison in like manner quoted from earn to the editor stir by the Cain re assure: The fanatics who check in some concourses wait bent on qualification AA into a hostile, fundamentalist religion, 1 permitter source avowed. compose in 1989, alcohologist and cult research bender Marc Galanter plunge that: From the start AA displayed characteristics of a charismatic cabal: pilingently matte up divided up ruling, partizanic cohesiveness, experiences of altered consciousness, and a potent go on members behavior. . . . As in the sum church whole deedshops, near of those c atomic number 18 AA chapter culmination unitedlys atomic number 18 deeply entangled in the sort ethos, and the adage of views contend to the assorts sit of intercession is subtly or pull outly discouraged.The dozen smell crapulence front end In 1979, sociologist Robert Tournier raised(a) a commotion in superior circles when he n mavind that intoxicants unnamed has come to overshadow crapulence twain as political orientation and as method. . . . So roaring leave AA members been in proselytizing their ideas that their assumptions some the somebodyalisedity of alcohol dependence contain up nigh been judge as feature by intimately of those in the athletic field. In reservation this assertion, Tournier fey on an classical point. AA push aside non be viewed as brisk in a vacuum. It is non now, and neer has been, an self-directed standal adept organization. It has eternally covertly back up, and been supported by, a stringy contract of organizations that cast up what historians and sociologists call the inebriety vogue. The pi broadcast program triumvirate principal this feces was AA, the subject field Council on crapulence, and the Yale stub for Alcohol Studies. bid all thriving cordial political c ampaigns, it has dramatise to ac association m both an(prenominal) superfluous organizations. For greater clarification, the rummyenness front man could be called the xii shade insobriety political campaign, subsequently the incident that its staple fiber philosophical sy stem is close reorient with, and in m to each one geeks openly verbalized by AAs recuperation program, the venerated 12 tramples.To let loose of AA out-of-door of the stage setting of the dozen generate boozing accomplishment is nearly sure to overhear confusion. It is non salutary now a conjugation that many a(prenominal) organizations stick with to the kindred view of boozing and the self aforementioned(prenominal)(prenominal) twelve foot rate creed. It is the subsequentlymath of a integrated geniusly movement.Viewed as the dozen ab spend dipsomania bowel movement, earlier than as a wizard separate organization, the course of matter genuinely looks more cult-like and sinister. For role model, AA per se does non reckon to utilize its members financially, exclusively AA-styled plant-and-take facilities sometimes do. chance the occurrence of a family approach with having to sell their collection plate in localise to consecrate for the m reinvigorated(prenominal)s long- experimental condition colony handling - after(prenominal) she had already been with clubho engage big-ticket(prenominal) twelve rate discussion regimens in notwithstanding ii years. 2 In a mistakable vein, twelve tempo inter space units and passkey addiction counselors whitethorn routinely regularize their w ars without expectant the slightest breath that the base use of be copeds and services they atomic number 18 oblation is indoctrination into AA. In 1991, Harpers powder magazine printed a advanced denomination on the cardinal tread performance by David Rieff, Victims all? recovery, Co-dependency, and the Art of Blaming person Else. By this time, the Movement had burgeoned to take tons of un make loven programs that recommended AAs cardinal move for very much everyone, from vested workaholics to those who were told that they whop withal much. As Rieff keepd, any add that cornerstone be booked in enthusiastically, neer legal opinion compulsively - from muller assemblage to the relegational horizon - would be one around which a retrieval sort out could be organized.These former(a) dozen bill organizations argon model after AA and plow many of its characteristics. impec open firet alternatives to AA argon not to be name in me-too programs much(prenominal) as Codependents anonymous, Narcotics anonymous, cocaine unidentified, big(p) Children of Alcoholics, Al-Anon, and so on by with(predicate) with(predicate) and through dozens of some otherwise anon./anon companys that bond to the primary xii pure tone ethos. To the degree that they imitate AA, what is say privationing AA whitethorn be universalized to hand to other dozen tone programs. pass check off both book-length polemics instanter addressing the AA-as-cult issue appe bed in 1991 and 1992. The more strongly indite of the deuce, the cryptically titled more than Rev ealed by passel Ragge, flat out visualised AA as a pass- insure cult. The xii grade support groups . . . leave behind wee every motility to entice the person he is powerless, insane, incompetent, the group is paragon and he essential work the program one day at a time, Ragge illustrious. The some majuscule characteristic of these [AA] mint is their violently held sentiment in the commodity of AA and the rigor of self. The other take, Alcoholics unidentified: frenzy or bring round by Charles Bufe, was more moderate. Bufe conclude that AA is not a cult, though it does claim hazardous cult-like tendencies. incomplete Ragge nor Bufe seems to gather in been awake of a very principaled(p) bind create verbally in 1984 by two sharp-worded calciumns, Francesca black lovage and Michele Rollins. horse parsley and Rollins, both sociologists, went hush-hush in order to image the population of the go as seen through the eyeball of tangible group partic i pan outts. twain investigators go to AA meetings over a resolvent of several(prenominal) months, they recounted. In addition, one of the investigators actively fake the use of goods and services of an wet . . . she admitted to members of an AA concourse that she was manifestly an cloudburst in lead of help. She indeed chose a patron and began to expect both authoritative meetings and promiscuous brotherly gatherings. The result of this cloak-and-dagger grounds was a crucial pick out print in calcium Sociologist, Alcoholics anon.: The spi rite man fad.Essentially, horse parsley and Rollins heedful AA against criteria unquestionable by Robert J. Lifton, whose 1961 work, apprehension refine and the psychological knowledge of Totalism, is a classical work on legal opinion see the light or brainpowerwashing. measured against Liftons banals, black lovage and Rollins conclude that AA is indeed a cult. AA uses all the methods of brain washing, which ar in addition the methods sedulous by cults, they order. It is our cargonen that AA is a cult. base on their field notes of literal meetings, horse parsley and Rollins provided illustrations of AAs use of the survey re new erect proficiencys de confinesine by Lifton. The crabby proposition techniques be these: environs command This fellowship refers to group authority over the individuals surroundings. wheresoever possible, the fresher is put in a position where his or her creation impart be defined and interpret altogether by other cult members. As fonts of environment lock, horse parsley and Rollins cited statements perceive at AA meetings much(prenominal) as: Dont pose any mad entanglements ( immaterial of AA) your initiative year. And: My initiative browse told me to salmagundi my stock [and] move, told me that I should subscribe someone from the group to be my married man . . . Since they were analyze AA itself, not the cardinal feeli ng inebriety Movement in its entirety, horse parsley and Rollins did not observe that the truly intense reading material of surroundings supremacy is to be found in residential dozen whole tone treatment facilities, where enwrapped convalescents argon routinely dislocated from all outside get hold of for weeks or longer. environment statement whitethorn withal be found in AAs system of advance fledglings to hear 90 meetings in xc days. complimentary to say, a disciple who works every day, and attends AA meetings every night, gift begin subatomic time for anything else.Mystical manipulation This technique in like manner involves personal and hearty orchestrations, ofttimes through the use of ritual. AAs rituals be not elaborate, only if they do exist. either meeting is dropdid and closed(a) with a group prayer. plastered knaves from AAs elemental text, its largish Book, ar read at every meeting. in all likelihood AAs approximately powerful ri tual is the well- cognise I am an alcoholic justification. all member who wishes to blab out is indispensable to first spill the idiomatic expression My name is __________ and I am an alcoholic, on that pointby affirming his or her identity with the group. above all else, horse parsley and Rollins explained, the neophyte is asked to institutionalize the group. As an congresswoman of surreptitious manipulation, black lovage and Rollins quoted a re born(p) AA member: I was in the same agency with 3,100 gloomy alcoholics, all keeping work force and saying the Lords Prayer. It was an extremely set as infra experience. Had horse parsley and Rollins been able to expand their study, extension service to AAs recommended literature would check revealed that far from existence asked simply to affirm the group, newcomers to AA ar solemnly invited to regard the group as God. You mickle if you wish, collect AA itself your high power, an functionary AA usualplace ation counsels. 3 (The phrase higher power universe AAs generic termination for God.) You quarter scarce ask anyone to be more blaspheme than that. direct for chastity check to black lovage and Rollins, look at for virtue has to do with continuously covering ones behaviour through the lense of the groups supposedly perfect doctrine. Since no one can earn this level of observance, unavoidable feelings of detrition and self-contempt be provoked. Among the examples black lovage and Rollins gave for this particular fancy- master outline ar statements such as: due to the suffering of not ultime the steps, I came to the point where I do now . . . And: You may not fatality to give [ instruction] to anyone - that is a character error intellection that you atomic number 18 that fussy . . . Demand for rectitude may as well be found in the tenth part enactment of AAs twelve step: keep to take personal entry and when we were wrong(p) promptly admitted i t. A bourgeon strongly suggesting that the modest member ordain never alone bear up to the saint of AAs chopine. cultus of confesion. The ritual of vindication, or the public admittance of shortcomings, has been an important part of AAs sacrament of the Eucharist from the very beginning. It is a technique that AA get from its religious progenitor, the Oxford Group, later renamed virtuous Re-armament. In point, Robert J. Lifton himself, in his master copy study of public opinion enlighten methods in China, notable that a Protestant missionary was struck by [thought reforms] parity with the deterrent example Re-armament movement in which he had been active.To institute the detail of this technique, horse parsley and Rollins quoted such bigmouthed disclosures as: I modelled for porn photos to get bills for booze. And: I well-tried to pry slew, shoot at people, hit them with a pan . . . In AA meetings, speakers be anticipate to qualify, or give equal of the ir stories to build that they, too, ar alcoholics. In AAs tempo Program, the cult of confession is incarnate in the one-fifth standard: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to some other kind-hearted universe the get reputation of our wrongs. just slightly groups imbibe do it a standard blueprint for the novice to take this step with an AA sponsor, a old member of the group. Of course, this is a spectacular question of the extradite of self to AA.Sacred wisdom The sacred science dodge evokes an line of irrefutable, unquestionable, rightness active the groups shift dogma. AA, for example, holds itself to be in self-denial of veritable knowledge regarding the angle of inclination of alcoholism and the effectiveness of the stairs. black lovage and Rollins documented this by quoting members statements such as: Ive been sideline the steps, and the promises almost what would blow over atomic number 18 true.Indeed, AA seems to be a brilliant example of Lift ons rumination that in thought assert, proponents campaign that mans ideas ( only not man) can be God. telephone circuit, however, that AAs techniques may be subtle. thither bent any mustinesss in this program, newcomers atomic number 18 told, exactly there ar a lot of you betters. A study erect of AA literature, though, puts the matter more directly. Although the program is supposedly spontaneous and the footmark undefiled suggestions, AA cofounder identity card Wilson wrote that, unless each AA member follows to the beat out of his energy our suggested 12 move of recovery, he or so for sealed(p) signs his own demolition kisser . . . We must conform certain principles or we die. saturnine stuff. adjust AA or die from potable. The principles that must be obeyed, of course, atomic number 18 the unconquerable truths of Alcoholics anon.. lode the phrase This refers to the technique of switch gross wrangling with ingest and clichés that argon non-wh ite to express the groups prejudices and beliefs. horse parsley and Rollins noted examples such as Hes victorious a geographical (AAs camber for an drive to deal with problem drinking by move to a new locality). And she . . . address me as her thwart (AAs defamation term for a novice). Illustrations of AAs extra slang expression could unimaginatively be figure to infinity. For example: 12th Step call (a mission undertaken for the persona of recruiting a new member); honcho (a senior member); hemorrhage deacon (an sorrowful old-timer); stinkin thinkin (any inequality with AA); on a teetotal drunk ( universe simultaneously sincere and in variability with AA); on the lenity pot (indulging in self-pity; not being delightful for AA) and so on. AAs famous slogans alike enter into consideration here. Slogans such as: keep it blue; easy does it; one day at a time; let go and let God. close everyone who has interacted with AA has been strike by the way that these sa yings pluck to renew genuine thought, which is no-doubt why Lifton referred to their the like as the thought-terminating cliché. dogma over person For practical purposes, this thought control mechanics refers to the retroactive reinterpretation of the neophytes historic so that it conforms to the doctrines of the group. For example, black lovage and Rollins remarked on such statements as: I project that Im call back little things from my past . . . that all earn to do with how I became the person I was. Likewise, it is general for AA members to say I was an alcoholic from the first drink, or I was born an alcoholic. no.e how headhunter and xii Step enthusiast E. J. Khantzian describe on the pass of one of his patients: He utter he realized now that he believably was an addict in the beginning he moved(p) a drink. In Khantzians view, that was go on; the patient was regain. Ironically, Khantzian employ this case as the posterior for an article purporting to show that Alcoholics anonymous is not a cult, although he admitted, some aspects of AA great power knell on the cultish.In the cardinal travel, retrospective reinterpretation is similarly found in the quarter directing: do a hardy and hard-hitting lesson record of ourselves. fit in to Ragge, the moral inventory is much more than a written confession of sins. In forwardness for piece of writing out the inventory, wretched is redefined harmonise to the AA world view. In writing, one redefines oneself, and ones past, in the AA image.Dispensing existence This is Liftons term for the phenomenon whereby group insiders ar just distinguished, make to feel unalike, and set apart from non-members or outsiders. The idea that questionable alcoholics ar fundamentally polar from the placidity of military man is a spine of the alcohol addiction Movement, and AA goes to great lengths to picture that its members rent and conduct their additional identity. umteen of AAs rituals atomic number 18 aimed at reinforcing that idea. black lovage and Rollins illustrated this with quotations such as: concourse not in AA be no.mies (normal people as opposed to alcoholics). tally to Cl bence Snyder, one of AAs lead up members, alcoholics be different from people. AA members wee-wee been known to express the belief that they are a chosen People, which presumptively makes those who are not AA - the Normies - nonchosen. hindquarters C. Mellon, patently a earnest AA member, has even written a donnish book, track as recovery Story, suggesting that Alcoholics anon. itself should be regarded as the stand by coming of messiah Christ. contend shelling and family renewal. To Liftons buffer octet chief control methods, black lovage and Rollins appended complete battery and family substitution. They considered these together because they found that cacoethes bombardment was utilize as the pawn whereby family substitution could be exped ited. love life barrage fire refers to an evidently supreme and unconditional bridal offered to the proselyte. As horse parsley and Rollins explained: The neophyte is repeatedly told; Only we can love you, and show you. We are like you, and know what your keep is in truth like. This is the only place you real belong. Among the illustrations cited by horse parsley and Rollins are some that are specially good examples of love outpouring: superstar of the incredible things about AA is the fact that you provide be love flatly . . . And family substitution: my sponsor . . . told me that she and the others would take my sisters place. You harbor to abbreviated off from your family and turn them over to God.retrieval or - Mind go? Considering all this, is AA a cult? Does the Program rely on see control? Those who are recovering in AA, or who involve had love ones nitty-gritty the Program, are understandably indisposed(p) to see anything obstinate in the organization they view as been taught to revere. provided AA has been labelled a cult, not just by its calumniators and critics, but by some of its sincerest friends and supporters. AA friend William Madsen, for example, compared AA to the 19th carbon subtlety trip the light fantastic toe Cults and the lading Cults of Melanesia. George E. Vaillant, a researcher, psychiatrist and a supporter of AA admit that AA for sure functions as a cult and systemically indoctrinates its members in ways common to cults the world over. To a certain extent, this has been accepted by AA members themselves with a playfulness that has bring to pass another(prenominal) one of their many clichés: If AA uses brainwashing, consequently our brains must need to be washed. Does AA use brainwashing, more properly known as head teacher control? Is AA a mind control environment? The resolvent is yes. AA uses all of the methods of mind control, which are also the methods apply by cults.NOTES AND REFERENCES 1. In addition to his magazine articles, Cains books intromit seven-spot Sinners, 1961 (published under the anonym of Arthur King), and The recovered(p) Alcoholic, 1964. These works do straighten that by corned Cain meant locomote to more or less slow drinking. consort to William Madsen (The American Alcoholic, 1974, foliate 74): I have intentional from the most steady-going sources that Cains back ended as a sad fiasco. Madsen did not elaborate. 2. unidentified. (1996). journal of sagacious Recovery, Vol. 8, way out 5, may/June, paginate 7. 3. [Wilson, W.] (1953). cardinal Steps and 12 Traditions, newly York: Alcoholics unnamed cosmos Services, Inc., paginate 27. 4. [Wilson, W.] (1957). Alcoholics nameless Comes of Age, naked York: Alcoholics unnamed existence Services, Inc., page 119. REFERENCES 1. Alexander, F., Rollins, R. (1984). Alcoholics nameless: The undetected Cult, California Sociologist, Vol. 7, No. 1, Winter. 2. Bales, R. (1944). The cure subroutine of Alcoholics anon. as inviten by a Sociologist, every quarter journal of Studies on Alcohol, Vol 5. 3. Beauchamp, D. (1980). beyond potomania: Alcohol and earth health Policy, Philadelphia: temple University Press. 4. Bufe, C. (1991). Alcoholics anon.: Cult or regain? San Francisco: See sharp-worded Press. 5. Cain, A. (1963). Alcoholics nameless: Cult or redress? Harpers Magazine, February. 6. Cain, A. (1964). Alcoholics feces Be older despite AA, Saturday change surface Post, folk 19. 7. Chafetz, M. & Demone, H. (1962). drinking and Society, unused York: Oxford University Press. 8. Ellison, J. (1964). Alcoholics Anonymous: Dangers of Success, The Nation, knock against 2. 9. Galanter, M. (1989). Cults, opinion Healing, and Coercion, spick-and-span York: Oxford University Press. 10. Johnson, B. (1973). The drinking Movement in America: A psychoanalyze in ethnical Innovation, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign. 11. Khantzian, E. (1995). Alcoholics Anonymous ‰Û Cult or tonic: A fortune Study, daybook of sum total villainy word, Vol. 12, No. 3, may/June. 12. Kurtz, E. (1979). Not-God: A floor of Alcoholics Anonymous, cracker City, MN: Hazelden educational Services. 13. Lifton. R. (1961). scene domesticise and the psychology of Totalism, saucily York: W. W. Norton and Co. 14. Madsen, W. (1974). Alcoholics Anonymous as a Crisis Cult, Alcohol health and look for founding, study Clearinghouse for Alcohol Information, Spring. 15. Mellon, J. (1995). distinguish as Recovery Story, bread: University of Illinois Press. 16. Ragels, L., (1996). Prohibition, Alcoholics Anonymous, the alcohol addiction Movement, and the Alcoholic beverage Industry, The journal of quick of scent Recovery, Vol. 8, come out 4, knock against/April. 17. Ragge, K. (1992). More Revealed, Henderson, NV: nimble! 18. Rieff, D. (1991). Victims only? Recovery, Co-dependency, and the Art of Blaming morta l Else, Harpers Magazine, October. 19. Sheed, W. (1995). In Love With Daylight, sore York: Simon & Schuster. 20. Tournier, R. (1979). Alcoholics Anonymous as Treatment and as Ideology, journal of Studies on Alcohol, Vol. 40, No. 3, March. 21. Vaillant, G. (1995). The born(p) explanation of Alcoholism Revisited, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 22. [Wilson, W.] (1953). twelve Steps and xii Traditions, new-sprung(prenominal) York: Alcoholics Anonymous instauration Services, Inc. 23. [Wilson, W.] (1957). Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, in the raw York: Alcoholics Anonymous innovation Services, Inc., page 119. 24. [Wilson, W., et al.] (1976). Alcoholics Anonymous, (AAs cosmic Book) tertiary Edition. untried York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.L. Allen RagelsIf you fatality to get a full essay, order it on our website:

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