ease model sees alcoholism as a sickness which can be analyzed and treated by medical means. Alcoholism in this view is a medical and not a social problem, a problem brought about not by social forces but by a tendency of the alcoholic to be affected biologically by the drug of alcohol. The disease model holds that the course of the illness follows a prescribed path through various stages marked by degrees of susceptibility and by the manifestation of different symptoms. On the other hand, the sociological model views the emergence of the medical model as a historical development rather than an explanation.
Schneider (1978) examines deviant drinking as a disease and takes the historical point of view toward the medical model. Schneider calls this the medicalization of deviant behavior. He states that whether something is a disease or not depends on significant portions of the medical community accepting the definition or not opposing the definition as used by those in other fields. He cites Zola (1972) as to the approach taken:
My contention is that if anything can be shown in some way to effect [sic] the inner workings of the body and to a lesser extent the mind, then it can be labeled an "illness" or jurisdictionally a "medical problem". (Schneider, 1978, p. 361)
Schneider says he is "concerned with the assertion that there is a disease called alcoholism that is identifiable independent of the specifications of any conditions believed to be causes or effects of it" (p. 362). He traces the development of the disease model through history, noting the beginnings in the colonial period as elucidated in 1784 by Dr. Benjamin Rush, who studied the bodily effects of various forms of alcoholic drink and offered the first systematic and clinical picture of intoxication. The disease concept continued through American history, with more refined models and more specific medical analyses. After examining this history, Schneider c...