GOOD, ADRIAN BRINTON, M.A. Investigating Relationships with Alcohol: the Construction of Meaning Through Narrative in Interview Situations
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GOOD, ADRIAN BRINTON, M.A. Investigating Relationships with Alcohol: The Construction of Meaning through Narrative in Interview Situations. (2013) Directed by Dr. Steve Kroll-Smith. 211 pp. Relationships between humans are comprised of many interwoven facets. So are relationships between humans and alcohol. This pilot research project attempts to conceptualize a few of the components that exist in the latter relationship and demonstrate an approach that may be used for additional investigation in the future. Ten male college students discussed their history with alcohol in an interview setting and, in doing so, described ways in which they developed relationships with the substance. Discussion of familial socialization focused on lessons centered on culture and/or moderation. Informants embedded discussion of the continued development of these relationships in discussion with components they considered to be important to their life stories. Much of the language used to put words around these relationships was divided into vernaculars of intent and vernaculars of strategy. These groupings allow for a rich understanding of different motivations that rest behind alcohol-related decisions and ways people categorize and understand different types of drinking behavior. Structuring the data in this manner creates an understanding of different alcohol-related desires and a variety of drinking styles that people use to achieve these ends. As alcohol can impact a situation in unpredictable ways, attempts to match strategy with intent may fail. Some of these strategies, such as alcoholic drinking, are not portrayed in a favorable manner. With this in mind, a struggle for control is embedded in the vernaculars of strategy. By doing this, informants projected agency and power on alcohol, thereby making it a subject and creating a viable relationship partner. This battle was also evident in the narratives told by informants. Some told of the ability to maintain control over alcohol throughout the life span up to that point. Others reported periods where control was lost and described the personal and social process through which it was regained. At the time of the interview, each person stated that he was reliably in command of his interactions with alcohol. INVESTIGATING RELATIONSHIPS WITH ALCOHOL: THE CONSTRUCTION OF MEANING THROUGH NARRATIVE IN INTERVIEW SITUATIONS by Adrian Brinton Good A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Greensboro 2013 Approved by ___________________________ Committee Chair © 2013 Adrian Brinton Good For my mom and my dad. ii APPROVAL PAGE This thesis has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Chair____________________________ Committee Members____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ___________________________ Date of Acceptance by Committee _________________________ Date of Final Oral Examination iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Professors Steve Kroll-Smith, Gwen Hunnicutt, Ken Allan, and Julie Brown for their feedback and encouragement. I would also like to thank my wife, Lesley, for her incredible patience and support. iv PREFACE As the interviewer’s role in meaning creation is considered as part of this research project, I would like to inform readers about my personal relationship with alcohol and how it led to the development of this research topic. Except for a few bouts of drinking with friends in high school and a couple of turns as a designated driver, I did not give alcohol much thought until the year after I graduated high school. That winter, the vehicle I was driving was struck by one with an intoxicated driver at the wheel. This person was quickly identified, but never arrested, as he was not in the country legally and chose to run away from the scene. In all honesty, I forgot this man’s name and aliases moments after hearing them. He is but one actor in a lifelong string that participated in a series of decisions that eventually resulted in this collision. I wasn’t just injured by him; I was injured by all of them. The present study evolved from a desire to understand the social factors that led to this collision. I want to know how a person comes to know alcohol through social interaction, and how he or she learns to think and speak about it. This exploratory project is meant to begin developing a thick understanding of the choices individuals make concerning alcohol rather than just examining the immediate set of circumstances and decisions that precede a negative alcohol-related consequence. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................1 II. HOW SOCIOLOGY UNDERSTANDS ALCOHOL ...........................................4 Social Conditions That Influence Alcohol Use ...........................................7 The “Lay Theory of Successful Drinking” ....................................10 Conditions That Describe Why Some People Do Not Drink ....................14 The Deviance Model of Alcohol Use ............................................14 Formal Social Control ....................................................................15 Informal Social Control .................................................................19 Language Used by Social Groups and Institutions That Influences Alcohol Use .................................................................21 III. TALKING ABOUT ALCOHOL .........................................................................25 Expectations & Common Sense.................................................................25 Question Situations ....................................................................................28 Projection ...................................................................................................30 Alcohol, Groups, and Identity Exploration ................................................32 A Competitive Understanding ...................................................................38 Conceptualizing the Problem .....................................................................41 IV. TALKING ABOUT TALKING ABOUT ALCOHOL (METHODS) ..................................................................................................43 Informant Population .................................................................................48 Recruitment ................................................................................................51 Interview Procedure ...................................................................................51 V. MAKING SENSE OF ALCOHOL WITHIN A FAMILIAL CONTEXT ..................................................................................54 Lessons in Culture......................................................................................54 Lessons in Moderation ...............................................................................58 The Composition of Lessons .....................................................................61 Summary ....................................................................................................66 vi VI. INFORMANT DRINKING TRAJECTORIES ...................................................68 Trajectories ................................................................................................68 Bruce (22) ......................................................................................68 Grant (22) .......................................................................................71 Isaac (21) ........................................................................................74 Jay (22)...........................................................................................76 Jorge (22) .......................................................................................79 Bryant (26) .....................................................................................83 Danny (30) .....................................................................................86 Emmanuel (30)...............................................................................88 Hunter (26) .....................................................................................90 Walter (27) .....................................................................................93 Summary ....................................................................................................97 VII. GRAMMARS OF DRINKING ...........................................................................98 “Drinking”..................................................................................................98 Vernaculars of Intent................................................................................101 Alcohol as Intoxicant ...................................................................102 Alcohol as Introduction................................................................105 Alcohol as a Social Boundary ......................................................109 Drinking and Dealing ...................................................................112 Drinking for Flavor ......................................................................116 Self-controlled Drinking ..........................................................................119