Conflicts and Contradictions in a Halfway House for Alcoholics: Inside the “Black Box”

This study was undertaken in response to the government's need for evaluative criteria in funding halfway houses for alcoholics. Sociological literature on halfway houses for alcoholics has identified their development as a “grass roots” social movement reacting against the perceived ineffectiveness of traditional institutional approaches (courts, hospitals, hostels, missions) in dealing with homeless alcoholics. Sociological theory on social movements sees them as evolutionary in nature where by newly emergent radical social arrangements are conceived and propagated in such a way so as to attain stability and themselves become the “new order of things”. In this sense social movements carry with them the seeds of their own institutionalization. Our study involved 10 months of observation in halfway houses for alcoholics designated for funding by the government. In addition an in-depth study of one haflway house (Fresh Start House) involved six months of continuous participant observation. Twenty-one consecutive admissions were monitored over their length of stay at Fresh Start House. During the duration of the study, in depth interviews (formal and informal) were conducted with both staff and residents. As a result of the study we were able to identify five key issues which seem applicable in analyzing the institutionalization of the halfway house movement in general. These issues revolve around: 1) staff ideology, 2) selection procedures, 3) structural organization, 4) role assignment and 5) communication network and content. Sociological theory has come to see the institutionalization of social movements as part of the inevitable dialetical process. The speed with which institutionalization progresses, however, may be accelerated or slowed depending on how specific issues are handled and what choices are made. In this study the halfway house in question failed to identify and resolve certain issues and with others made choices which hastened the process of institutionalization. Of the twenty-one consecutive admissions monitored through their stay at Fresh Start House, only one remained sober three months after discharge. This study attempts to document what happened while these residents were inside the “black box.”