Contested meanings : the construction of alcohol problems /

Students of alcohol use and alcohol problems should find Gusfield's book helpful in understanding how the social meanings people apply to alcohol use shape alcohol politics and the formulation of social remedies to alcohol problems. Since the publication of his classic work Symbolic Crusade (1963) on the history of the American temperance movement, Gusfield has taken a leading role in acquainting students with the different and often conflicted meanings surrounding alcohol use. Assembled here are a number of Gusfield's recent essays, illuminating some of the diverse meanings associated with alcohol use in America and other countries. Some of the essays are theoretical in nature, others based on the author's own participant observation research, others meta-analyses of previous research. If there is any failing in this volume it is in the author's reluctance to edit his past writings, leaving readers with a certain amount of redundancy. Yet Gusfield's penetrating insights should stimulate fresh thinking as well as a willingness to question accepted definitions of the subject. Graduate, faculty. W. Feigelman Nassau Community College