How can the efforts of temperance movement in response to alcohol be explained - Essay Example

? How can the efforts of temperance movement and U.S response be explained, at least in part, in terms of racial prejudice?Were there any similarities between the Temperance Movement efforts and those of state and local levels of government who sought to control opium use among the Chinese? Name: Institution: Date: How can the efforts of temperance movement in response to alcohol be explained? Basically temperance movements are social movements which foster prohibited or reduced alcoholic abuse. They typically promote complete abstinence, condemn excessive alcohol use, and push the government to endorse anti-alcohol laws or total prohibition of alcohol. During the Victorian era this movement became more drastic, campaigning for legal prohibition of alcohol rather than promoting moral suasion or calling for moderation. All in all, its efforts were perceived in both progressive politics especially female suffrage and religious renewal. Band of Hope, a temperance movement, was founded in Leeds with the working class being their centre of attention. They strived to keep away children of the working class from the dangers of alcoholism. In 1851 there was a success in banning or restricting the selling of alcohol in various parts of the U.S (Nugent, 2011). The prohibitionists formed different organizations inside the movement to address the problem of alcoholism from all perspectives. The anti-saloon league concentrated on creating dry counties and dry states away from alcohol. Moreover, the movement began to look for alternative places to hold their meetings thereby replacing the roles of public bars. Therefore, they introduced coffee palaces, temperance halls, temperance theatre and temperance fountains where individuals could reliably get drinking water instead of having to get into the saloons. The movement began to nominate candidates for government offices and forming political parties thus producing leaders who supported the ban of alcohol. All in all they believed that taking alcohol was a deviant, moral and offset to Christianity (Nugent, 2011). The temperance movement advocated for its views with mounting stridency with which could not be of comparison to the use of mass media at the moment in terms of response, commitment and scope. How can the efforts of the United States in response to alcohol be explained? The government of United States has identified alcoholism to be its leading drug problem. Consequently, it initiated some tools to promote more self control. The major tool is higher excise tax which inflates the prices on alcoholic beverages (Sartor, 2013). This helps promote standards of living and public health. Other successful control measures are heavy penalties for driving under influence of alcohol, minimum purchasing age to deter underage citizens from abuse, privatization in retail alcohol sales dram-shop liability and limitations on alcohol advertising. Privatization has proved to be effective in controlling sales of alcoholic beverages hence commercial retailing of these beverages is made possible. Never the less, the government also amended the constitution in1919 to prohibit the transportation, sale or manufacture intoxicating liquors. Efforts of temperance movement and the U.S response to alcohol explained in terms of racial prejudice Temperance movement gained more recognition in women suffrage after the seventeenth Amendment. This amendment created a new reliable workforce with prejudice to German-Americans together with their breweries which made ban of alcohol a patriotic cause. Moreover, prohibitionists clamored to make alcohol abuse directed to common racial prejudices thereby convincing others to ban alcohol (Nugent, 2011). The anti-saloon league in the temperance movement portrayed Catholics as morally depraved and intellectually inferior as they feared authoritarian orders from Rome would replace their capitalist and democratic principles. Pro-prohibition groups using rhetorical strategies claimed that alcohol influenced African- Americans to commit serious crimes. The United States government policies to control alcohol abuse may not openly show attempts to suppress minority groups. However, these policies have racists’ effects in that they unduly impact minority groups. For instance, even though whites engage in more alcohol related offences than African-Americans; their rate of incarceration is ten times lower than that of the African-Americans. In addition, the anti-alcohol act of 1914 succeeded through use of racist rhetoric and imagery to gain support to pass drug legislation (Sartor, 2013). Therefore, the success of moral prohibitionists who used racist strategies with deep-ceded prejudices made a ground work for other anti-alcohol legislations. Were there any similarities between the Temperance Movement efforts and those of state and local levels of government who sought to control opium use among the Chinese? The temperance movement pushed for the prohibition of opium hence the states intentionally initiated prohibitory laws earlier than the federal government. Both the federal government and the temperance movement tried to protect the morals of the local community from the immigrants. The laws did not prohibit the consumption or importation of opium but they applied to smoking of opium only. The Chinese Exclusion Act made it illegal for the Chinese to smoke opium; eventually the later Harrison Narcotics Act prohibited all Americans. Hence many argue that the incursion of Chinese immigrations lead to the legislation of these laws (Sartor, 2013). Opium smoking among the Chinese immigrants was highly condemned by the movement and the state governments for common reasons. They argued that Opium smoking adversely affected sexual behavior in terms of desire and has put the country’s reproductive capacity at risk (Nicola, 2012). They also feared for America’s economic downturn and miscegenation due to Chinese prostitution as a result opium smoking. The federal government of the United States together with the temperance movement was willing to offer assistance to China. This could be done in terms of policy recommendations to overcome the social, economic, political and public health problems which were prevailing in China. References Nugent, P. (2011). THE temperance movement and wine farmers at the cape: collective action, racial discourse, and legislative reform, 1890–1965. The Journal of African History , pp. 341-363. "http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021853711000508" Sartor, C. E. (2013). Cannabis or alcohol first? Differences by ethnicity and in risk for rapid progression to cannabis-related problems in women. Psychological Medicine , pp. 813-823. : "http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291712001493" Boothe-Perry, Nicola A .(2012). The American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law21 (1) pp. 1-37. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/index?accountid=8289 Read More