Alcoholics Anonymous and the Biological Subculture

In the millennia through which human beings have existed through the early twentieth century, culture has flourished everywhere that mankind chose to migrate and establish a way of life. The cultures which have evolved, adapted and become extinct throughout all this time were all mechanisms by which human beings chose to address the problems of survival. Of course the human animal is incredibly adaptive and creative and his answers to the basic questions of survival have been different all over the world. This has led to an incredible variety of cultures. The factors that have caused different cultures to choose their mechanisms of survival has depended upon the climate and environment in which each culture lives, the level of interaction with other societies and religions and philosophies espoused by the people of each culture. Children are raised throughout the world in ways that cause the child to adopt the surrounding culture.

This acculturation has been found to be a product of learning and biology. Children raised in different cultures from their parents have been found to adopt the ways of their adoptive culture and behave in ways completely adaptive to that culture and its standards. Almost universally the mechanism of acculturation has been found to be cultural and not biological with few exceptions. Drug addicts and alcoholics throughout the world have been found among every walk of life and in every socioeconomic strata. Since the 1930's Alcoholics Anonymous has spread from the United States of America throughout the world and has transcended the boundaries of alcohol abuse to deal with all types of substance abuse and immoderate behavior. Anonymous programs draw their membership from all different races, religious backgrounds, nationalities and cultures and have in themselves formed a subculture with its basis in biology and psychology rather than geography.