The following study is a qualitative analysis of the 12-step fellowship Narcotics Anonymous. Over a two-year period, ethnographic data were collected from over 150 NA meetings and codified using the principles of the research methodology grounded theory. Through an analysis of testimonials presented at the meeting level, a theory of the process of identity, specifically that of becoming a “recovering addict,” has been posited. The foundation for these testimonials lay within the presentation of “the story,” or typical NA testimony, found at every NA meeting this researcher attended. The story, it will be argued, constructs the narrative environment of NA and works in a reflexive relationship with identity. That is, addict identity is articulated through the language of the story, and the story itself cultivates this identity in the NA member. The components of the story are examined at considerable length, followed by a conceptual model that seeks to explain some of the dynamics of this identity phenomenon.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ArminenIkka, “Outline for comparative analyses of AA life stories: A research note,”Contemporary Drug Problems18:499–523, 1991.
2.
BeharRuth, The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.
3.
CainCarole, “Personal stories: Self-understanding in Alcoholics Anonymous,”Ethos19:210–237, 1991.
4.
ClarkeAdele E., “Social Worlds/Arenas Theory as Organizational Theory,” pp. 119–158 in: Social Organizations and Social Process. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991.
DavisDiane Rae, and JansenGolie G., “Making meaning of Alcoholics Anonymous for social workers: Myths, metaphors, and realities,”Social Work43:169–183, 1998.
7.
DenzinNorman K., The Recovering Alcoholic. Newbury Park: Sage, 1987.
8.
ArminenIkka, The Alcoholic Society: Addiction and Recovery of the Self. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1993.
9.
DiltsStephen L.ClarkSheryl A., and HarmonRobert J., “Self-disclosure and the treatment of substance abuse,”Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment14:67–71, 1997.
10.
DobbertMarion Lundy, Ethnographic Research: Theory and Application for Modern Schools and Societies. New York: Praeger, 1982.
11.
FettermanDavid M., Ethnography: Step by Step. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998.
12.
FinneyJ.W. and MoosR.H., “The long-term course of treated alcoholism I. Mortality, relapse and remission rates and comparisons with community controls,”Journal of Studies on Alcohol52:44–54, 1991.
13.
GellmanIrving P., The Sober Alcoholic. New Haven, CT: College and University Press, 1964.
14.
GiddensAnthony, Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the the Late Modern Age. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991.
15.
GlaserBarney G., Theoretical Sensitivity. Mill Valley, CA: The Sociology Press, 1978.
16.
GlaserBarney G. and StraussAnselm L., The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine Publishing, 1967.
17.
GoffmanErving, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor, 1959.
18.
HammersleyMartyn and AtkinsonPaul, Ethnography: Principles in Practice. New York: Routledge, 1995.
19.
HumphreysK.FinneyJ.W., and MoosR.H., “Applying a stress and coping framework on mutual-help organizations,”Journal of Community Psychology22:312–327, 1994.
20.
HumphreysKeithMoosRudolf H., and CohenCaryn, “Social and community resources and long-term recovery from treated and untreated alcoholism,”Journal of Studies on Alcohol58:231–239, 1997.
21.
KaskutasLee AnnWeisnerConstance, and CaetanoRaul, “Predictors of help-seeking among a longitudinal sample of the general population, 1984–1992,”Journal of Studies on Alcohol58:155–162, 1997.
22.
MäkeläKlaus, Alcoholics Anonymous as a Mutual-Help Movement: A Study in Eight Societies. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996.
23.
MonkG.WinsladeJ.CrocketK., and EpstonD., Narrative Therapy in Practice: The Archaeology of Hope. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.
24.
MorgenstenJonLabouvieErichMcGradyBarbara S.KahlerChristopher W., and FreyRonni M., “Affiliation with Alcoholics Anonymous after treatment: A study of its therapeutic effects and mechanisms of action,”Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology65:768–778. 1997.
25.
Narcotics Anonymous World Service Organization, NA Basic Text. Van Nuys, CA: 1988.
26.
RappaportJulian, “Narrative studies, personal stories, and identity transformation in the mutual-help context.”The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science29:239–256, 1993.
27.
RobinsonDavid, From Drinking to Alcoholism: A Sociological Commentary. New York: Wiley, 1976.
28.
RobinsonDavid, Talking Out of Alcoholism: The Self-Help Process of Alcoholics Anonymous. Baltimore: University Park Press, 1979.
29.
SchuckitMarc A.TippJayson E.SmithTom L., and BucholzKathleen K., “Periods of abstinence following the onset of alcohol dependence in 1,853 men and women,”Journal of Studies on Alcohol58:581–590, 1997.
30.
SmithAnnette R., “The social construction of group dependency in Alcoholics Anonymous,”Journal of Drug Issues23:689–705, 1993.
31.
SteffenVibeke, “Life stories and shared experience,”Social Science and Medicine45:99–112, 1997.
32.
StraussAnselm L., Mirrors and Masks: The Search for Identity. Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1959.
33.
StraussnerShulamithAshenbergLala, and SpiegelBetsy Robin, “An analysis of 12-step programs for substance abusers from a developmental perspective,”Clinical Social Work Journal24:299–310, 1996.
34.
ThuneC., “Alcoholism and the archetypal past: A phenomenological perspective on Alcoholics Anonymous,”Journal of Studies on Alcohol38:75–88, 1977.
35.
TriceHarrison M. and RomanPaul M., “Delabeling, relabeling, and Alcoholics Anonymous.”Social Problems17:538–546, 1970.
36.
VitzPaul C., “The Use of Stories in Moral Development,”American Psychologist45:709–720, 1990.
37.
WatsonCharles G.HancockMarthaGearhartLee P.MendezClaudia M.MalovrhPatricia, and RadenMaria, “A comparative outcome of moderate, occasional, and non-attenders of Alcoholics Anonymous,”Journal of Clinical Psychology53:209–215, 1997.
38.
WhiteMichael and EpstonDavid, Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends. New York: Norton, 1990.
39.
WitmerDiane F., “Communication and recovery: Structuration as an onto-logical approach to organizational culture,”Communication Monographs64:324–350, 1997.
