Jewish people rarely become alcoholic because drinking is part of their religious ritual and because the pressures operating on them as a minority group make for sobriety, Charles R. Snyder, a Yale sociologist, today told a meeting of the Harvard Department of Health.
Jewish people begin drinking early in life in connection with their religious rituals. In addition, their drinking is done in a family context. Thus, through their traditions, Jews are systematically socialized to moderate drinking and sobriety. And as members of a minority group, they tend to guard against behavior, like excessive drinking, that would act to their discredit, he stated.
“But,” he went on, “as participation in Orthodox ceremonies and rituals diminishes, Jewish people tend to react differently to the patterns of the society in which they live and the pressure for sobriety relaxes. In other words, as they become less religious, they accept the pattern of drinking, intoxication and alcoholism found in the wider society.”
The negligible amount of alcoholism among Jews is significant, according to Mr. Snyder, because the incidence of neurosis and psychological problems is quite high among them. This indicates that alcoholism is not necessarily a response to neurosis or psychological difficulties.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
