addiction

is itself absent (as a pathology) in some indian communities where there is heavy drinking.

Anthropologist have marshaled observations made in various Indian communities to argue that alcohol addiction is absent in many Indian groups (cf. Leland 1976). For example, Joseph Westermeyer (1974: 30) has written that 'with regard to both alcohol and alcohol-related problems, an extremely wide variation exist among individual tribes, among subgroups within tribes, and among individual Indians.' Moreover, social attitudes about drunkenness vary across cultures. Thus, Hendry (1994: 187) notes that in Japan there is 'considerable tolerance for behaviour attributed to the consumption of alcohol.' In other societies, by contrast, tolerance is minimal.

J. LelandThinkers

J. Leland