The Alcoholic Society

Offering a unique theoretical foundation to understanding the lived experience of the active alcoholic, Denzin asserts that alcoholism is a disease in which negative emotions divide the self into warring, inner factions, fueled and distorted by alcoholic intoxication. The work is solidly anchored in a long-term study of the socialization experiences that began in alcoholism treatment centers and continue in Alcoholics Anonymous recovery programs. It covers the treatment process, the restructuring of self, the alcoholic's interaction with his recovery treatment program, and the modalities of self-transcendence that result from treatment.

1: Introduction:; I: Differing Views of Alcoholism; 2: Science and Alcoholism; 3: Alcoholics Anonymous and Alcoholism; 4: Alcoholics and Alcoholism; 5: The Six Theses of Alcoholism; II: The Alcoholic Self; 6: The Alcoholically Divided Self; 7: The Recovering Alcoholic Self; III: Treating the Alcoholic Self; 8: The Paradoxes of Treatment; 9: Experiencing Treatment; IV: A.A. and the Social Worlds of Recovery; 10: The A.A. Group; 11: Slips and Relapses; 12: The Recovery of Self; 13: Interpreting Alcoholism and Recovery; 14: Conclusion