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Disease Concept of Alcoholism

Throughout the nineteenth century attempts were made to propagate the conception of alcoholism as a disease (Schmidt, Smart, & Moss, 1968, p. 4). In fact, there was a small number of institutions in which alcoholics were treated as ill persons. However, by the late nineteenth century, most of these centers were closed or taken over for the treatment of mental disease. Some describe the failure of the various institutions for alcoholics to inefficient management and to a lack of clarity in the formulation of the illness concept of alcoholism. Added to these causes was the nineteenth-century view, shared by the community and the medical profession, that alcoholism was a vice of the poor.

In North American literature of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries, there was a change of emphasis in the discussion of alcohol problems. Interest now centered on the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, and the urban worker was seen as a possible voter in the prohibitionist cause rather than as an object of reform. In the political struggle which led to the passing of prohibition legislation, alcohol was pictured as a danger to all strata of society and the problems of alcoholism became submerged (Schmidt, Smart, & Moss, 1968, p. 5).

However after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, a marked shift occurred in the popular conception of the alcoholic. A recurring theme of propagandistic and educational activities stressed that alcoholism was not primarily an affliction of the poor. For example, literature on alcoholism of that period stated that contrary to popular belief, the "ravages of intemperance" are most plainly to be traced in classes above the "pauper" class (Schmidt, Smart, & Moss, 1968, p. 5). This was because, as the theory went, it was among those capable of earning good incomes that the most money was spent for alcohol--and consequently, the most vitality burnt out by it.

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Disease Concept of Alcoholism. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:09, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1690382.html