"Indispensable for
anyone trying to understand AA at the end of the twentieth century." - Harry G. Levine, Queens College,
City University of New York.
Though published 21 years
ago, this international collaborative study of A.A. at locations in the USA, Austria,
Finland, Iceland, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Mexico, is still relevant for
anyone trying to understand A.A. in the 21st century. For any A.A.
member wishing to understand the 60 years of history that has passed since A.A.
published Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, this study will also provide some
useful insight into the spread and development of the fellowship alongside what is termed "Institutional 12-Step Treatment" during in this period.
See also: “DIVERSITY
IN UNITY: Studies of Alcoholics Anonymous in Eight Societies” http://www.nordicwelfare.org/PageFiles/5230/33publikation.pdf
Given the widespread deviations from A.A. Traditions
observed, the separatist movement in Mexico, and the large number of A.A. members, old and new, who are now leaving A.A., these studies could also be aptly titled “DISUNITY IN DIVERSITY: Studies of Alcoholics
Anonymous in Eight Societies.”
Extract from "Alcoholics
Anonymous as a Mutual-help Movement: A Study in Eight Societies" p. 193:
“In recent years,
however, the relation of AA to the criminal justice system has substantially
changed in the United States. It is now common practice in many parts of the
United States for the judge to require attendance at AA meetings as part of the
sentence for drunk driving or other criminal offenses. To verify attendance,
the secretary of the AA meeting signs or initials the “court card” carried by
the probationer. The practice appears to have started in the late 1960s in
southern California, at the initiative of enthusiastic judges and with
considerable doubt among old-timers in AA, but the practice is now so
widespread in the United States that it is taken for granted. Discussions
continue, though, about the difficulties this new form of association with the
criminal justice system has caused for AA’s functioning.
Of our study sites, it is
only in the United States that the formal practice of “court-carding” has taken
root. In a less formal style, however, the criminal court process in Mexico and
Sweden also encourages affiliation with AA, and holds out the prospect that
this liaison will secure more lenient handling in the courts. In future years, AA may come under pressure in
a wider variety of countries to serve a formal social control function on behalf
of the criminal justice system.
The issue of compulsion is not limited to the criminal justice system. Mandatory treatment is increasingly prescribed not only because of homelessness or public deviance but also because of insufficient work performance or family problems (Takala, Klingemann, & Hunt, 1992), which means that it is spreading to new groups of the population. In the United States, for instance, employers sometimes request AA meeting attendance of their employees.”
The issue of compulsion is not limited to the criminal justice system. Mandatory treatment is increasingly prescribed not only because of homelessness or public deviance but also because of insufficient work performance or family problems (Takala, Klingemann, & Hunt, 1992), which means that it is spreading to new groups of the population. In the United States, for instance, employers sometimes request AA meeting attendance of their employees.”
If you are an A.A. member, you might ask
yourself this question: Do you, or does your A.A. group, contrary to A.A. Traditions, Five and Six, serve a formal social
control function on behalf of the criminal justice system? or employers?
For information on the difficulties this new
form of association with the criminal justice system has caused for A.A.’s
functioning see:
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