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Justin Rose

K.B. Hom

COMM 2150

Tuesday, May 1st, 2018

Research Paper #2

One of the biggest theoretical hurdles for many on the journey to live their lives

sober, is addressing the idea of a higher power, many of whom, choose to call this power

god. Because of this, there is a communication disconnect between those in religious

communities, and those that struggle with substance abuse. The communication

accommodation theory, the adaptive structuration theory, and symbolic interactionism,

can aid in understanding this disconnect, and create a bridge of social understanding.

Grasping the reasons for intercultural struggles can only go so far. Action must be taken.

Creating a program to bring the two sides of this disconnect together is an essential part of

intercultural success.

The disease of addiction is one in which the odds of success are stacked against the

addict. The reason why people choose this path, is because they have no other option. Their

lives have become unmanageable, to the point that action must be taking. The only problem

is, they are addicted, so much so, that their coping mechanisms for all emotional highs and

low is to turn to the substance. It is important that the addict find a power in life that is

greater than themselves, because in the majority of accounts, someone’s individual will

power was not enough to rid them of their addictions. There must be something greater

than themselves in order for them to get sober. This is why they call it a higher power. The

reason why it is perhaps the most difficult trial for the addict, lies solely in the lifestyle they
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lived before. Many addicts throughout their lives have been consumed by their need for the

substance. Relationships, Family, and community take a back seat to their addiction. In

alcoholics anonymous, they call this “Self will run riot”. Because behavior is learned,

divorcing oneself from self-serving behaviors is a daunting task. Because it is so hard for

them to grasp the idea that something other than themselves can lead them to salvation,

resentment builds for those who find it easy to lean on a higher power throughout their

lives, the religious.

On the flip side, being a part of a religious community, can cause many to not want

to surround oneself by those with substance abuse disorder. There are many religions in

which the consumption of alcohol is strictly forbidden. The religion of Islam strictly forbids

it, the church of the latter-day saints (LDS) forbids it, Christianity varies on their stance,

and Buddhism is against it. That’s not to say that all religions are against alcohol, there are

some religions where it is required during certain celebrations to drink alcohol. The point

is, some religions find it against their rules or standards to consume alcohol. This is an

aspect of the culture that creates the disconnect with those suffering from the diseases of

substance abuse. When brought up in a given religion, your social groups are most likely

influenced by those that do or do not share the same faith. As a matter of fact, most human

beings, irrelevant of religious affiliation, surround themselves by like-minded people.

Because of this, those that do not share the same belief system can be ostracized and

judged from a far. This is what leads to many in religious communities, not wanting to be

associated with those who have had a history of substance abuse.

The Adaptive Structuration Theory is defined as “The production and reproduction

of social systems by your use of rules and resources in interaction. One builds a group or a
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relationship by adopting, adapting, or otherwise sharing mutual rules and resources that

affect decisions and action”. This theory pin-points the reason for the communication

disconnect of the two-aforementioned culture. Both cultures adopt, adapt, and share

mutual rules which continue to separate the two cultures from one another. In the realm of

substance abuse, many share the resentment of those that find it easy to adopt a higher

power, the group as a whole pushes the religious community away. Alternatively, in

religious communities, many don’t understand why some choose to use substances that are

forbidden in their way of life, therefore the group separates themselves from addict

community. The problem is cyclical and creates more and more of a divide between the two

cultures.

Another theory that can help us understand this cultural disconnect is the

Communication Accommodation Theory. The theory states “When people in an

intercultural encounter, who see themselves as unique individuals, adjust their speech

styles and content to mesh with others whose approval they seek. People may be trying to

reinforce a strong group identification or are just trying to make friends”. When discussing

this theory, it is important to think about the point in time that members of the respected

groups were new to their communities. When someone is a new member of a community of

substance abuse, for example, alcoholics anonymous, they seek the approval of those that

have long-term sobriety. Because religious resentment is a common trend in social groups

in alcoholics anonymous, the newcomer is often motivated to adopt this resentment in

order to become accepted by those with long-term sobriety. In the religious community,

there is a hierarchy of approval, though some do not adhere to that hierarchy, many, while

being introduced to the community, seek the approval of those at the top of that hierarchy.
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Because those at the top are inherently more religious and potentially more against the use

of drugs and alcohol, the newcomer adopts these ideals in hopes of gaining the approval of

those they look up to. Both aspects of this theory create a bigger rift between the two

populations, making it harder to them to communicate and have overlapping social circles.

The last theory that can help us understand the two communities, is symbolic

interactionism. The theory states “Humans act toward people, things, and events on the

basis of meaning they assign to them. One people define a situation as real, it has very real

consequences. We change the effects of this theory with educational dialogue”. This theory

is an excellent illustration of how the social rift has been created and continues to be

sustained. The judgements coming from both communities has caused each group the label

the other in a certain way and those labels have real consequences. In this case, the

consequences are that both groups in many situations isolate themselves from one another

due to their lack of shared life experiences. These labels and judgements are detrimental

the to the growth of both communities. In order to succeed as a community, it is important

to be as inclusive as possible. This will allow for a bigger and more comfortable following.

In the case of the religious, having a bigger following will allow more people to have faith

and use that faith to succeed in whichever direction their lives go. For the addict, have

more of a following means that more people have an opportunity to get sober, if they need

to, potentially leading to less overdoses and deaths as well as more people learn the

principles of the community, and growing as human beings.

The last part of symbolic interactionism says that the way to change the effects of

the theory is with educational dialogue. So how do we do that? How do we bring these two

groups together and facilitate healthy dialogue? Creating a program that works to break
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cross cultural stigmas through the sharing of life experiences. The first step is data

collection, one must interview individuals and collect feedback from both communities in

order to focus on the groups that hold negative or make incorrect assumptions about the

other culture. After finding the target population, we must ask both group if they would be

willing to come together a mediated setting to discuss how they can discover the reality of

each other’s lifestyles and find empathy. Group member will share life experiences in order

to give the other community context to when and why life choices were made. The hope is

that after hearing about why individuals live the lives they live, both communities will

achieve a greater understanding about each other’s culture, and therefore destroying

assumptions and stigmas. The most important step of the program was putting into action.

The data collection portion of the program was more complicated than expected,

those in the community of substance abuse didn’t have much trouble talking about their

resentments of religion, but those in religious communities were not so forward with their

stigmas towards substance abusers. In an interview with Patty, a member of the LDS

church, she states “I don’t associate with people who have a history of substance abuse, but

I don’t have anything against them”. In this example, Patty is ignoring the fact that she is

not associating with substance abusers for a certain reason, which consequently, is holding

something against the population. Fortunately, Patty was willing to participate in our

program and tell her story to the group. On the flip side, those in the substance abuse

community were not as welling to be a part of the program. Many were willing to talk about

their resentments of religion and justify their reasoning’s for such, but there were only a

few individuals that were willing to discuss their resentments openly with the religious

population.
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The setting of the meetings is very important. We must make sure that the

environment of cross-cultural communication happens at a neutral site. If the meeting

happens in a religiously dominated environment or in an environment where those with

religious affiliation could be uncomfortable, then the conversation could be influenced by

outside pressures on either group. Meeting at a park was the best possible choice. The

group consisted of 4 members of the religious community, 3 members of the LDS church, 1

member of the Jewish faith, and 4 individuals that have struggled with substance abuse.

The meeting started with an ice breaker in hopes to get the groups emotional guards down

a bit. The group went around and discussed their most embarrassing moment in high

school. Jim, one of the members of the community of substance abuse, told a story about

how he had won a water pong tournament with his classmates and he got so excited when

he won that he slipped and fell onto his back breaking multiple cup and the table the game

was played on. The group erupted in laughter after the story and it seemed that the groups

emotional walls have been brought down quite a bit.

The strategy of the program was to meet 4 weeks in a row for an hour each time.

Each time the group met, two people, one that had struggled with substance abuse, one

with religious affiliations, would tell their story; The story of what it was like growing up

for them and how events in their lives led to what their lives look like today.

At the end of the stories, the group would take 15-20 minutes to have open dialogue about

what surprised them about the story as well as asking questions about aspects that they

did not understand. The idea behind this was that people from the other culture would be

able to see a person, who’s ideals were, in certain ways, different than theirs, but instead of

looking for the differences, would be able to see the similarities. Human beings are so
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complex in their motivations and aspirations that hearing about why people do the things

they do, will hopefully help the group see more eye-to-eye.

The group has only met twice out of the four times, but much progress has been

made up to this point. The stories are vastly different from one another, but the fact that

people from different communities are willing to take time out of their lives and schedules

to tell each other about their tribulations and successes, has a message in itself. Many in the

group have discussed their gratitude that both sides are willing to come together and have

an open dialogue. Alex, a male member of the LDS church told the group “It makes me

happy that we are all here together doing this. The way I see drinking and using

(substances) very different than when we started”. It is apparent that progress is being

made in just the first two weeks. The group is implored to bring more members of their

respective communities to group in the hopes that the program can expand and be more

effective. To this point, no one outside of the original eight individuals have shown up to

group. People are learning and growing to new levels of understanding. Perspectives are

being changed and cultures are coming together. That is the goal of the program, and only

half way through, it seems to be a success.

In conclusion, the culture in communities of substance abuse and of those in

religious communities are seemingly very different, but those difference don’t have to lead

to resentment and judgment. The Communication Accommodation Theory, Adaptive

Structuration Theory, and Symbolic Interactionism, help us understand why these cultural

differences continue to reinforce separation between the two. The best way to overcome

these differences is to come together as one group and discover similarities. This program

has been successful so far, and can continue to be improved over time. Many groups with
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cross cultural differences could use this blueprint in order to make cross-cultural

communication easier and more successful. The most important part of the program is

taking action. Making effective change in the community takes time and effort but is

necessary in successful intercultural communication.

Bibliography

Alimentarium, Ressources. “Alcohol and Religion.” Alimentarium, Alimentarium, 28

Apr. 2017, www.alimentarium.org/en/knowledge/alcohol-and-religion.

Harrison, Mette Ivie. “Run and Not Be Weary: Why Mormons Don't Drink.” The

Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 7 Dec. 2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/mette-ivie-

harrison/why-mormons-dont-drink_b_8247912.html.

Hopfe, Lewis M., and Lavinia R. Hopfe. Religions of the World. Macmillan College Pub.

Co., 1994.

Martin, Judith N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in

Contexts. McGraw-Hill, 2014.

W., Bill. Alcoholics Anonymous: the Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women

Have Recovered from Alcoholism. Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1976.