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people can hold there liquor

people can hold there liquor Some People Can Really Hold Their Liquor Sociologists, Craig MacAndrew and Robert Edgerton believe Some People can really Hold their liquor .In their article they exemplify the vast types of cultures, not only as a group, but as individuals and the effect alcohol has on them. They explain that society interpets alcohol as a means of escaping reality . if one looks at the range of behaviors associated with drunkenness in all socities , it becomes apparent that alcohol is used as a way of calling time out with respect to some of the norms of social life. They attribute alcohol in casuing states of depression , euphoria, energizing us and as well as lowering our inhibition`s. The different cultures which the authors present to us are The Camba Indians of Eastern Bolivia whom frequently get extremley drunk , but their excess drinking does not lead to agression or heigtened sexual activity .The Mixtec Indians of Mexico , highly value tranquility and non- agression , even in states of gross intoxication they are not loud or agressive. When the kaingang indians of brazil a warlike tribe ,drink with other extended families , they become extrem;ey violent and often commit murders..When members of a single extended family drink togther, however, quarrels never go beyond blows and muder at this time is , unheard of. The mixe indians of Mexico often have fist fights when drunk , pause before starting to fight and give their weapons to onlookers to avoid the chance of seriously injuring their opposition. The authors use the interactionist prespective approach . The interactionist perspective in soicology is a view of society that focuses on the way in which people act toward, respond to, and influence one another. It is the product of countless encounters between human beings. The interactionist perspective provides a fascinating insight into the mechanics of everday life, and it has the advantage of revealing fundamental social processes that other perspectives easily overlook.But the perspective is open to the important criticism that it neglects larger social institutions and societal processes of stability and change- instituions and processes which,after all,have powerful effects on social interaction and on our personal experience. The interactionist theorists pose some interesting questions. The three questions that i feel best integrated with the article are , 1. Why do individuals do the things they do , 2. How is society experienced and 3. How important are the daily routines of unwritten rules, courtesies,and manners we take for granted. In my paper i will show evidence of these questions being proven. Why do individuals do the things they do? is one of the questions an interaction theorist asks. We do things due to our pure desire , influence, and in other cirumstances, curiosity .Alcohol tends to be a used in most social gatherings , some individuals choose to drink because it helps them escape reality, other individuals drink to help loosen themselves up and enjoy themselves, i know many people who use alcohol as a tool to interact with the opposite sex, it makes them leave their worries behind and rids them of any social anxities , eventhough alchol can impair there senses and lead that individual into dangerous grounds. . "People , most know the negative effects alcohol can cause such as depression Relative to our comportment when sober, we may, for instance become boisterous or solemn, depressed or euphoric, repugnantly gregarious or totally withdrawn etc. (19) In the article the authors points out different stages a particular invidiual goes through , the first night of drinking the person becomes warlike and belligerent. The second night the person becomes friendly. And finally on the third night the person becomes more laid-back, more withdrawn from the rest of the group. Why is it that this person acted differently each night? A better way to understand this is to look at a different culture. The Camba Indians when drunk do not act aggressively or are they sexually motivated. Their drinking behavior is almost a ritual. They sit in a circle among friends or family members and toast each other. The amount of toasts are usually equal and therefor everyone is treated the same. The Mixtec Indians value tranquillity & are usually found not to be loud or aggressive, even when they reach states of gross intoxication. This again, to me seems to deal with their history, and what they follow as far as behavior and traditions go. They have been taught to act in a certain way. This idea is backed up by the fact that the authors state that throughout childhood the parents place great emphasis upon training in the control of aggression. For example most mothers reported that the sole reason for which they would physically punish their children would be to prevent them from fighting back. Secondly, the Mixtecans share a deeply held pattern of beliefs concerning the causal role of jealousy, anger and aggression., etc., which act as a deterrent even to remaining situations that might give rise to such emotions. This is why the Mixtecs act The following question that a interactionist theorist would ask is how important are the daily routines of unwritten rules, courtesies and manners that we take for granted? The answer to this question is best exemplified when one looks at the different cultures in the article. For example in the Camba Indian tribe they unite in a hut or in a yard making a circle. They place a bottle of alcohol and one glass of water on a small table. The person throwing the party, otherwise known as the sponsor pours a glassful of liquor at the table, then turns and toasts whomever he desires. The person addressed smiles and nods while still seated; the sponsor toasts with Salud and drinks of the glassful. (20) The person being toasted drinks the other half. If there is a new person in the group he or she is usually given a myriad of toasts. Also if there is an attractive female she is bombarded with toasts. This ritual is very important to the Camba because the idea of someone turning down a toast is unthinkable. The Mixe Indians are a people that though are often drunk they have a certain level of respect. It is very important to them that if and when they do fight that they fight fairly even if they have weapons. They are a people that when fighting use absolutely no weapons. Nearly all members carry machetes and rifles. The fights usually break out while the members are intoxicated. The men in the tribe, before they engage in a fight, hold out their weapons to onlookers, and then begin to fight with their fists. (22) The men will fight but they do not want to deliver a serious injury to their adversary. Not only do they not want to hurt their advesary but after the fight is over they help each other up Another possible answer to this question lies within the Kaingang Indians. They are a group that get drunk first then go to war unless they are drinking with members of their inner group. If they are drinking with a group that is an outer group the results are usually very bloody. The Kaingang Indians would invite members of an outside group to join them to brew beer.(22) These outer groups knew that blood would be shed no matter what, yet at the same time they couldnt backaway from the invitation either. The third question that a interactionist theorist could ask is how is society experienced? Society is experienced by all different factors in our surroundings and enviorment , relative to the article all 4 cultures deal with everday experiences that assist in there interactions. In the case of the Kaingnag , one of aspect of there society is experienced through alcohol. They invite outer groups to drink beer then this behavior leads in many situations to murder. . Yet when it comes to their own inner groups no blood is drawn no matter how drunk they are. They exemplify a society in which the ingestion of alcohol in no way blurred their ability to recognize what was for them a fundamental distinction between in group and out group. (22) society does have an influence on our behavior To me, many factors attribute to behaviors while intoxicated, we are influnced by the people around us at the moment , our own mood, maybe due to our enviorment , and in some situations our health . " A drunks mans words are a sober mans thoughts " , was once told to me and as i read this article i kept recalling that line , these cultures all have varied behaviors while intoxicated , and alchol would either be the cause of there differences or would not influence them in any certain way . "Cross cultural research shows that the view of alcohol as necessarily disinhibiting is misleading. Cultural conceptions and societal expectations produce wide reactions in drunken beahvior" We do so consciously and subconsciously. The articles displayed four types of cultures and each had a different way of reacting to being intoxicated. The Camba and the Mixtec were the peaceful people. They are peaceful because that is what they were taught to be. They werent taught to be sexual while drunk, they were taught to simply follow their traditions respectively. The Mixtec were trained in the home on how to react. As children they knew the repercussions of misbehaving. But at the same time the Kaingang were always fighting with one another and that is why they were becoming a smaller people. We all in some way can be categorized as a Tribe , usually when we drink , we drink as a group. Our own behaviors make up the behavior attributed to our "tribe" and each spec of that behavior has in some way been affected by our society , " Cheer`s" to some , may be a war chant , or a motivational tool to charge foward and knock back those beer`s , take on the entire world and wake up the next morning with "battle scars" from that wonderful hangover. Everyone in Society see`s alcohol in there own eyes , whether it be "evil" and combated with therapy , such as the Alcholic Anoymous or social drinker Bibliography:

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