| Chapter 1: | A Meeting Observed |
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Lynn appeared to feel that the newcomer was not fully ready, and she determined this though the newcomer’s discourse. Implicit in this is the belief that an alcoholic can only benefit from AA given a certain psychological state, referred to as ‘hitting bottom’—a point of abandonment of self-will and self-reliance and a preparedness to accept help. Lynn’s talk of the need to ‘surrender’ shows a concern for the psychological disposition of the newcomer that lies at the heart of AA’s belief system. She had determined from the newcomer’s verbal behaviour that she had not hit bottom, implicitly claiming the existence of a point of intersection where discursive behaviour and psychological responsiveness to AA cross. If, as is believed by many, isolation (Roth, 2004) and a highly dichotomised confrontational view of self and the world (Bateson 1985a/1971) is at the heart the predicament of many alcoholics, recovery depends on abandoning reliance on self and surrendering to a more dialogical relationship with others.
Lynn’s belief that the newcomer had not ‘hit bottom’ was based on her inability to submit to the discursive procedures of an AA meeting. The newcomer was primarily interested in acquiring ‘facts’ and ‘advice’. Except for a brief period, she resisted allowing her voice to be subsumed into a shared discourse. She resisted by attempting to, in a sense, ‘hijack’ the nature of the interaction by asking questions and by forming and limiting their responses to her concerns. By asking questions, she was controlling and shaping the response of others, keeping the audience separate from herself, and casting them as conveyors of information. By using and thereby constituting language as a conduit (Reddy, 1979) through which ideas, information, and advice may be transmitted, the newcomer constituted herself and the other participants as being on different, as well as unequal, ends of an informational and advice-conveying system.
However, AA interaction requires positioning oneself with the other participants, all jointly engaging in the production of altered personal narratives and alignments. Little that is new is conveyed in AA sharing, but much is retold, amplified, reiterated, and confirmed. Its interaction is striking in that similar stories are told and similar positions are taken. In the transmission mode, the interactive flow is linear. The reiterative, circular flow of interaction in an AA meeting, however, suggests coproduction, something more dialogical.