ABSTRACT
The individual acquires a commonality of perspective with others by learning and developing together the symbols by which aspects of the world are designated. The commonly accepted way of doing things is transmitted from generation to generation, resulting in a totality that Berger and Luckmann call the “symbolic universe,” which “hardens” and “thickens” to gradually assume the appearance of objective reality. The concept of social worlds floats throughout the sociological literature. But it has received renewed interest following a paper delivered by Strauss before the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, June, 1975. In short, the combination of an action frame of reference and a social worlds/social arena perspective provided the sensitizing concept which led to the people who are defining alcohol use as a social problem, and the processes whereby it is being defined for the larger society.
