ABSTRACT
The theoretical underpinning of the abstinence requirement in the related concepts of loss of control and craving has been shown, to say the very least, to be in need of considerable modification. In the nineteenth-century context, urging someone to become abstinent was to make a much more realistic demand of him than it is now. The recovered drunkard had shining examples of sobriety to emulate and could expect to receive considerable encouragement and praise for his new resolve. The demise of the Temperance Movement in the twentieth century is bound up with the decline of organized religion in general. The contemporary American is less likely than his nineteenth-century ancestor to be either a total abstainer or a hard drinker. Drinking becomes attractive because of its function in releasing the expression of these subterranean values, which are associated at the same time with attitudes of suspicion and even hostility towards those who choose to remain abstinent.
