A prevalent critique of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is that members must adopt an inflexible illness narrative, taking on an “alcoholic” identity and performing a set of practices to address this condition. Conversely, a small body of research suggests that, rather than comprising the uniform adoption of a rigid narrative, integration into AA is achieved by negotiating individual beliefs, values, and preferences with the AA model. To investigate such processes of negotiation, the current study aimed to explore the politics of belonging in AA. The study involved semi-structured interviews with 15 AA members recruited from meetings across Sydney, Australia, and data were analyzed thematically. Findings illustrated how participants navigated the politics of inclusion/exclusion within AA. While some aspects of AA were found to be negotiable by participants, a non-negotiable aspect of AA ideology that emerged was the axiom that “alcoholics” have no control over alcohol and therefore should maintain abstinence. Findings raise questions about how the politics of belonging in AA may shift over time following broader patterns of societal change.

中文翻译：

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匿名戒酒会的归属政治：一项定性访谈研究

对匿名戒酒会 (AA) 的普遍批评是，成员必须采用死板的疾病叙述，采用“酗酒者”身份并执行一系列实践来解决这种情况。相反，一小部分研究表明，通过与 AA 模型协商个人信仰、价值观和偏好，而不是统一采用严格的叙述，融入 AA 是实现的。为了调查此类谈判过程，当前的研究旨在探索 AA 中的归属政治。该研究涉及对从澳大利亚悉尼各地的会议中招募的 15 名机管局成员进行的半结构化访谈，并对数据进行了主题分析。调查结果说明了参与者如何应对机管局内部的包容/排斥政治。虽然参与者发现 AA 的某些方面是可以协商的，但出现的 AA 意识形态的一个不可协商的方面是“酗酒者”无法控制酒精的公理，因此应该保持禁欲。调查结果提出了一个问题，即在更广泛的社会变革模式之后，AA 的归属政治可能如何随着时间的推移而转变。