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The Role of the Drunk in a Oaxacan Village 1
Author(s) -
DENNIS PHILIP A.
Publication year - 1975
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.1975.77.4.02a00080
Subject(s) - license , drama , analogy , sociology , social psychology , history , criminology , psychology , literature , art , epistemology , political science , law , philosophy
Drunks are accorded great social license in Oaxacan villages. They may shout insults, intrude uninvited into social gatherings, and behave in other normally unacceptable ways. This paper analyzes the drunk's role in terms suggested by Goffman's “dramaturgical analogy,” as a highly functional and sometimes entertaining part in the ongoing drama of community life. Village conceptions of drunken behavior are seen to create that behavior, apart from the alcohol intake which is its ostensible cause.