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Benign Anarchy: Alcoholics Anonymous in Ireland

29.99

Shane Butler

This book tells the story of how the AA was established in Ireland (the first European country to start an AA group) in 1946 and how it gradually came to establish itself as a mainstream Irish institution, the need for which has become clearer as alcohol consumption has increased.

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Description

Butler tells the story of how AA was established in Ireland (the first European country to start an AA group) in 1946, and how it gradually came to establish itself as a mainstream Irish institution, the need for which has become clearer as alcohol consumption levels increase. AA is described as a hybrid institution, straddling healthcare and religion, and the book looks in detail at how early Irish members negotiated working relationships with the mental health system and the dominant Catholic Church.

The book also focuses on AA’s commitment to the avoidance of conventional, organizational management systems, involving clearly-identified leaders and top-down instructions for front-line members. The survival of AA in Ireland, as elsewhere, is attributed primarily to the fact that it has remained firmly outside of alcohol politics, seeing itself as a ‘fellowship’ which exists only to help individuals who seek its help in relation to their own powerlessness over alcohol. It is recognized, paradoxically, that AA in Ireland could not have negotiated such a smooth entry to this country without the energies and skills of its early leaders, and this book documents the activities of these leaders who – with the assistance of AA in the United States of America – strategically managed the fellowship’s establishment in a potentially hostile environment.

Table of Contents

  1. Introducing AA
  2. Managing Alcohol Problems in Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century Ireland
  3. Alcoholics Anonymous – Origins, Beliefs and Practices
  4. Alcoholics Anonymous in Ireland – Peaceful Coexistence with the Catholic Church
  5. AA, Alcoholism Treatment and the Irish Healthcare System
  6. Alcoholics Anonymous – an Irish Institution
  7. The Role of AA in a Nation of Drinkers

About the Author

Shane Butler has a PhD in Social Policy from Trinity College Dublin. He has published widely on mental health issues, many of the articles and book chapters on drug-related issues. His previous book is Alcohol, Drugs and Health Promotion in Modern Ireland (2002; Dublin: Institute of Public Administration).