Working sober

by William J. Sonnenstuhl

Americans assume that workers do not drink on the job and that, if they do, it is because they suffer from alcoholism rather than because they are conforming to occupational expectations. William J. Sonnenstuhl disagrees. He contends that some occupational cultures encourage heavy drinking. Moreover, his research suggests that the sense of community which motivates drinking can also sometimes inspire workers to break the pattern and work sober. Sonnenstuhl surveys drinking patterns in specific occupations, including construction, the military, railroading, and journalism, asking why such patterns have resisted efforts by both management and labor to curtail drinking from colonial times to the present. He documents the experience of workers who build tunnels and underground systems in New York City, in an occupation that traditionally encouraged its members to drink together both on the job and off. Known as sandhogs, they do strenuous, dirty work deep underground, where one worker dies