My dissertation advances scholarship in sociology, organizational studies, and the human services by addressing a practical gap in social service provision: Why, despite evidence of need, the availability of models and, in some cases funding, do so few organizations address alcohol and other drug use (AOD) and intimate partner violence (IPV) simultaneously and holistically? What allows some organizations to address both IPV and AOD when most do not?

I argue that answering these questions requires untangling the histories of these two areas of intervention. The first part of my dissertation traces the development of both fields in the United States since the 1960s, focusing on shifts in federal policy, expert knowledge, and modal organizational practices. Drawing on archival work, interviews with experts in the IPV and AOD fields, and secondary literatures on each area, I show how tensions between these types of organizations emerge from their institutionalizations as different types of social problems. While IPV has increasingly come under the dominion of the criminal justice system while remaining heavily influenced by its feminist roots, AOD has become increasingly medicalized. Both approaches have implications for the forms organizations take as well as how they define and carry out their work.

The second part of my dissertation considers empirical differences between the population of organizations involved in service provision for IPV and AOD in a Midwestern metropolitan area. Using a unique dataset, I describe aggregate-level differences between organizations in the two fields and link the diversity of approaches and practices represented therein to the histories of the two areas. I also show how organizational status shapes both the likelihood of organizational hybridity (the provision of services for both IPV and AOD) and the form hybridity takes.

The third part of my dissertation takes an in-depth look at how organizations combine attention to IPV and AOD. I develop case studies of a subset of organizations addressing both issues to identify different pathways to IPV-AOD hybridity based on organizations’ status positions within their primary fields. I also consider how organizational characteristics and strategies influence the degree of hybridity different organizations achieve.

In addition to contributing to theoretical work on fields and the relationships between them, my dissertation has implications for policymakers and practitioners working to address both AOD and IPV. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all vision of hybrid IPV-AOD service provision, the recommendations offered vary by organizational type and consider the fit between the local context, organizational characteristics and approaches, and concrete integration strategies.