Problem Drinkers and the Welfare Bureaucracy

Abstract

Local welfare systems in the United States have few incentives and no official mandate to address alcohol-related problems in their clientele. Nonetheless, problem drinkers remain a "disreputable" and problematic social service population: they pose a challenge to the bureaucratic efficiency and public image of welfare, as well as to the moral sensibilities and legal perceptions of the workers who staff these systems. This article charts the processing routine for recipients who are problem drinkers in a single county's welfare system. It documents an officially mandated "conservative bias" against detecting and directly handling alcohol problems. It also reports on unofficial case-processing strategies that respond not only to the particular needs of problem-drinking welfare clients but also to the personal concerns of the welfare workers who manage this clientele.