Sociocultural Model

To make learning about these models and theories easier, w e have organized them into five major categories (there are specific variations within the categories) moral model, American disease model, biological model, social learning model, and sociocultural model. Each model has implications for designing treatment of the substance-use disorders. Our discussion is based heavily on chapters by Miller and Hester (1989, 2002). 

Sociocultural Model Distribution of Consumption Model Proscriptive Model... 

One of the strongest proponents of the sociocultural model is Rupert Wilkinson (1970), who argues that alcohol use can be affected by planned policy measures. Wilkinson notes identifiable patterns of alcohol consumption that correspond to low rates of problematic drinking, and he thinks these patterns can be used as guides for ingraining altered drinking patterns in the culture. 

A second proposal of Wilkinson s sociocultural model is that there must be a distinction between drinking per se and drunkenness. The notion here is that acceptable drinking and unacceptable drinking (drunkenness) both should be clearly defined. Unfortunately, arriving at such definitions is not easy. 

A major criticism of the sociocultural model is that it may not be widely applicable. Many countries, such as the United States and Canada, have diverse cultures and subcultures, and customs and values that fit one of them may not be amenable to or accepted by another. A second criticism is that the sociocultural approach, while emphasizing moderate consumption, fails to account for the value and pleasure many people attach to heavier drinking. A third concern with the model is that it assumes attitudinal changes in the culture will result in the desired behavioral changes. There is no specification of the mechanisms by which that change will occur, however, and... 

Despite these concerns, the sociocultural model remains an influential and frequently used strategy. When it is applied, the strategy has a broad scope. Examples of its applications include the advertising and education approaches to the problem of driving after drinking. 

Prevention efforts are being implemented on a number of fronts, and in this section we provide an overview of several contemporary topics and programs in primary and secondary prevention. (Notice that most of these prevention activities are derived predominantly from the sociocultural model). We preface this section by highlighting the most noteworthy trends in prevention activities today ... 

The sociocultural model of prevention, probably the dominant approach in the United States, posits that social norms directly influence substance use. 

One strength of the sociocultural model of prevention is its emphasis on reducing the physical problems associated with alcohol consumption. 

Until the latter part of the twentieth century, we also find the evolution of program management within the history of organization development. Gharajedaghi identified three types of organizational constmcts that trace the latter [8] mindless system (mechanical model), uni-minded system (biological model), multi-minded system (sociocultural model). He introduced two modes of inquiry for each of these models to create six sub-models of organization. His modes of inquiry referred to the analytical approach, focused on independent variables, and on the systems approach, focused on interdependent variables. 

Another perspective of organization produced the sociocultural model. It has evolved from a systems inquiry of the organization as mechanical system, but with interdependent variables, and came later in the twentieth century with the application of the mathematics of Operations Research (OR) to find optimal solutions to networks of interdependent variables. Academics like Ackoff and Forrester (systems dynamic modeling) [28] and practitioners like McNamara [29] contributed to this mode of inquiry. Eventually Ackoff [30] would renounce the OR approach because it didn t consider that the parts in a social system have a choice. 

Sociocultural, illness, and biological factors affect individual attitudes towards psychotropic medications. Health beliefs or explanatory models, particularly causal attributions regarding the illness and the treatment options afforded within such models, exert a profound influence on patients attitudes and behavior regarding medications (Smith, Lin Mendoza, 1993). Such effects can be subtle and can occur during the course of treatment even if there has been initial successful negotiation about the nature of the illness and treatment. In psychiatric illness little research has been leveled at the personal meaning that patients bring to treatment practices such as electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), oral medications, and depot injections, or to the transition between different administrative routes and types of medications. 

Jafari, J. (1987) Tourism models The sociocultural aspects. Tourism Management 8 (2), 151-159. 

The model of etiology of alcohol and drug use disorder that a treatment is based on affects its design. We review five models in this chapter moral, American disease, biological, social learning, and sociocultural. 

One can see the parallels between the evolutions of systems thinking and organization models, from mechanical, to biological to sociocultural. A distinguishing feature of these models is the nature of the bond between system components (members). In mechanical systems, the bonds are energy related and governed by the laws of nature in biological and in sociocultural systems, the bonds are information-oriented. 

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