Diseases of the Will: Alcohol and the Dilemmas of Freedom

by Mariana Valverde

Overview

This broad-ranging and innovative investigation explores the ways in which both authorities and individual consumers have defined and managed the pleasures and dangers of alcoholic beverages. It explores the question of free will versus determinism and how it has been challenged by ideas about addiction, morality and psychology during the past 150 years. This book is based on years of original research and draws on sources from the United States, UK, Canada and elsewhere and will appeal to readers in legal studies, addiction studies, criminology, sociology and psychology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521623001
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/28/1998
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.33(h) x 0.83(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Disease or habit? Alcoholism and the exercise of freedom; 2. Repairing diseased wills: Victorian science and pastoral medicine before 'alcoholism'; 3. The fragmentation of inebriety; 4. 'Enlightened hedonism': the emergence of alcohol science in the US; 5. The power of powerlessness: Alcoholics Anonymous techniques for governing the self; 6. The liquor of government and the government of liquor; 7. Reducing risks, replacing fluids; 8. Judicial diagnostics: 'Intoxicated Automatism' and the resurrection of the will.

Editorial Reviews

"[This book] is theoretically ambitious and yet it achieves these ambitions and then some. It sets a standard for historical sociology that is frequently not met. Rich empirical evidence and wonderful illustrations tether complex arguments. The book represents a significant contribution to the growing literature and research on freedom and control. In short, Valverde achieves her worthy ambition to understand just what we, in our specific historical moment, are doing." Economy and Society

"Mariana's Valverde's book, Diseases of the WIll, makes a significant contribution that will provide a foundation for all future discussions about addiction and the nature and limits of human freedom and responsibility." William L. White, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

From the Publisher