No abstract

ft is ultimately through experience that character is formulated and made evident. From an ethnographic examination of an adventure program (Ropes Adventure, lnc.) that attempts to mold the identity of adolescents who have been detained for minor felonies and misdemeanors, we examine how personal challenge can be channeled into moral messages. By evoking and then taming fear (adventure), organizations demonstrate the power of personal accomplishment, trust, and cooperation-each socially legitimated moral virtues. We argue that character building efforts may be hampered when organizational aims and actual implementation of structured adventure collide.

The social contexts in which individuals drink and the expected outcomes of that drinking (i.e., individual beliefs about the effects of drinking beverage alcohol) have recently been found to represent conceptually distinct models of alcohol consumption patterns. This paper examines the relationships between contexts, beliefs, and a variety of problem drinking patterns, and reestimates these relationships in a large national probability sample of 2,100 adults (U.S. National Alcohol Survey [National 7], Alcohol Research Group 1984: Berkeley, Calif). Regression analyses indicate that the interrelationship of drinking contexts and drinking beliefs, and their impact on drinking behavior, is more complex than previously described. Consistent with earlier research, when simple frequency of drinking is the focus, social contexts for drinking emerge as the more important independent influences. When several indicators of maladaptive drinking are considered, however, beliefs regarding the effects of drinking, particularly beliefs regarding drinking as a means to modify affect, are found to be more influential. Logic is developed for a comprehensive model of the sources of problem drinking that incorporates both classes of explanatory variables.

Affective heritage embracement, a collective narrative of nostalgia, is identified at two popular music festivals. “MusicFest” embraces a tradition of “Red Dirt” country music through performance (music festival), whereas the “Walnut Valley Festival” embraces a bluegrass/folk musical heritage through performance and participation (musicians' festival). The symbolic importance of musical interaction is explored to highlight the experienced emotionality that leads to the affective ties that bind these otherwise temporary communities. This collective narrative reveals the various functions of nostalgia wherein collective sentiment both reflects and creates the perceived authentic experiences of festival attendees.

Leisure identities and occupational identities are often assumed to be opposites. Drawing on two ethnographic studies, evidence is provided to illustrate how organizational contexts ( or lack thereof) both interrupt and in uence the social construction of identities. River running is but one activity that provides participants with opportunities to achieve a desired identity using situated emotion cues. In this study, river guides are examined to highlight the negotiations they must employ as they attempt to establish a "river" identity in contexts that distinguish their work and leisure roles.