Delabeling, Relabeling, and Alcoholics Anonymous

Abstract

Labeling theory implicitly assumes that deviant careers are relatively permanent. Little systematic effort has been devoted to consideration of delabeling and relabeling processes. Alcoholics Anonymous appears to be a unique agency for carrying out successful delabeling and relabeling of stigmatized deviants. This success appears to be accounted for largely by A.A.'s use of the repentant role available in American society, constructing a “comeback” for “repentant” alcoholics based on their apparently intense adherence to middle-class ideals coupled with their repudiation of the “hedonistic underworld” to which they “traveled” as alcoholics. The repentant role gains further strength from the status-enhancing effects of the “skid-row image,” and the congruence of A.A. with American value orientations. A.A. promulgates an “allergy” concept of alcoholism which is parallel to mental health agencies' emphasis on the illness concept of behavior disorders. The allergy concept appears to play a relatively minor role in the process of public reacceptance.

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