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Alcohol and the Identity Struggle: Some Effects of Economic Change on Interpersonal Relations
Author(s) -
ROBBINS RICHARD HOWARD
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1973.75.1.02a00060
Subject(s) - identity (music) , interpersonal communication , identity change , social psychology , social identity theory , sociology , interpersonal relationship , psychology , social group , aesthetics , art , feeling
This paper proposes to examine the apparent increase in interpersonal conflict that often accompanies economic change. Focusing initially on the drinking behavior of the Naskapi Indians of Schefferville, Quebec, it is held that when economic change results in the introduction of new ways of access of persons to goods or activities that serve to maintain identities, there will be an increase in frequency of identity struggles, and a corresponding increase in those ritualized or formalized social interactions which serve as identity‐resolving forums.