This presentation looks at the ways members of Alcoholics Anonymous
are socialized into new ways of being in the world, or what Bourdieu
(1977) calls habitus. Specifically, my research examines AA narratives
through the lens of language socialization to show how newcomers are
socialized through the stories of others and into ways of telling particular
stories about their lives through which new sober identities are
constructed. A key feature of the AA sober identity is the ability to both
enact and transmit notions of community-defined competence through
narrative. In this way, narrative serves the dual function of socializing
not only the person who is telling her story, but also those who are
listening.