Alcoholics Anonymous in a Mexican Peasant-Indian Village

The Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) program has had some success in combatting alcoholism not only at home, but world-wide, despite barriers of culture and language. This paper discusses reasons why AA might be able to cross cultural lines and tests these assertions using data from a functioning AA group in a peasant-Indian village in southern Mexico. In the paper, the social science literature concerning AA is reviewed for relevant concepts, the cultural context of the Zapotec village is discussed, and the nature of the AA group is described. It is concluded that Vaillant's (1983) characterization of the key elements of successful American self-help groups may have cross-cultural applicability.