The Social Construction of American Indian Drinking: Perceptions of American Indian and White Officials

Abstract

Research has shown that alcohol abuse is a significant problem among American Indians. It has been suggested, however, that American Indians and whites interpret the behavioral pattern differently, which may reflect the distinct symbolic-moral universes of the two groups. Whites are said to stereotypically blame Indians for the alcohol problem, and they favor assimilation to ameliorate it. American Indians purportedly blame the historical incursions of whites for the problem and advocate cultural revitalization to solve it. However, systematic empirical documentation of the competing viewpoints is lacking. Here we compare the perceptions of twelve American Indian and twelve white officials responsible for controlling alcohol abuse and related problems on the Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming. Data were collected using in-depth, semistructured interviews. The findings show that the two groups tend to converge in their assessments of the extent of the alcohol abuse problem but clearly diverge in their attributions concerning both its causes and appropriate approaches to controlling it. The discourse of whites and American Indians thus reflects the existence of separate symbolic-moral universes. This investigation redirects attention from the traditional focus on the incidence and etiology of alcohol abuse among American Indians to the politics surrounding the definition and interpretation of the deviant behavior. It also highlights the significance of cultural competition to race relations theories grounded in political economy, which are commonly used to analyze Indian-white contact.