The Transition to Medicalized Views: Alcoholism and Social Workers

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

More deviant behaviors in our society are coming to be defined as medical rather than criminal, so that more control of such behavior is coming under medical and helping professions. Some conditions, e.g., alcoholism, seem to be caught "in between," with serious consequences. This paper looks at social worker perception of the alcoholic as "sick," in terms of a sociological conception of sickness as a social role. A bi-mdal distribution is found for acceptance and nonacceptance. Also, a significant number are ambivalent. The implications of this lack of consensus are discussed.