The serious attention of social scientists to the relationships between alcohol and
work can be traced back at least to the 1950s, with shadows of such an interest
evident even earlier. As is true with much of the work in alcohol studies, the
research focus on alcohol/work has been heavily concerned with a variety of
practical issues. As a consequence, researchers in this specialty have typically
had extensive ongoing interactions with practitioners, including both workplace
program managers and external providers of alcoholism treatment and related
services. The mutual concerns emerging from these interactions include the
refinement of strategies for identifying and providing assistance to employed
alcoholics and problem drinkers, as well as a more cautious interest in investigating
the relationship between workplace factors and the development of excessive
drinking and alcoholism. This work was nascent during the 1960s but
was considerably enhanced with the founding in 1970 of the National Institute
on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). This federal agency provided
mechanisms for promotion of workplace interest in dealing constructively with
alcohol problems and provided funding for both research and demonstration
projects focused on the workplace throughout the 1970s. Changes in federal
policy has led in the 1980s to a narrowing of available funding to scientific
research and elimination of demonstration project support.