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Sociological perspectives on alcohol consumption
Sociological perspectives on alcohol consumption
The Culture of Alcohol Consumption
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Binge drinking and alcoholism have been a long-time concern in American society. While the government and schools have made great efforts to tackle the alcohol problems by enacting laws and providing education, the situation of dysfunctional alcohol consumption hasn’t been sufficiently improved. In the essay “Drinking Games,” author Malcolm Gladwell proves to the readers that besides the biological attributes of a drinker, the culture that the drinker lives in also influences his or her drinking behaviors. By talking about cultural impact, he focuses on cultural customs of drinking reflected in drinking places. He specifically examines how changing the drinking places changes people’s drinking behaviors by presenting the alcohol myopia theory. …show more content…
People can easily excuse their disputes, violence or sexual offenses simply by saying “I was drunk and didn’t know what happened” and “I lost control of myself.” At the same time, the society will easily accept their excuses because people do expect and believe that drinkers shed their inhibitions under the biological effects of ethanol. But in fact, alcohol’s behavioral effect is more of a cultural influence, and people can totally be in control of themselves even if they are drunk. In Gladwell’s essay, he provides examples of the Camba ethnic group and Italian Americans who are both in integrated drinking cultures and have the habit of drinking heavily, but can control themselves and do not usually have trouble with alcoholism after consuming alcohol because their cultures believe they can. Gladwell also demonstrates the alcohol myopia theory and the related experiment overview to prove that in ambivalent cultures, people who are heavily drunk can remain in complete control of themselves and make rational decisions if they are given proper incentives. “I was drunk and I lost my control” is never a valid excuse for behavioral problems from alcohol; to solve the alcoholism problem, our culture should change its belief of alcohol’s behavioral
Alcohol has always been a part of feminine culture, but it took a dramatic shift in the early 20th century. In the book, Domesticating Drink, Catherine Murdock argues that during this period, women transformed how society drank and eradicated the masculine culture that preceded this shift. Murdock draws from a few different sources to prove her argument, such as: etiquette manuals published after the turn of the century and anecdotes from the time period. She provides many interesting and unique perspectives on how drinking culture evolved, but she shows a clear bias towards “wet” culture and also makes very exaggerated claims that turn her argument into something that is nearly impossible to completely prove.
There are two different types of people in the world, those who follow the rules and those who do not. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury writes about a futuristic time period where people no longer read books. Not only do they not read anymore but it is illegal. In this town the government controls what their people learn, and how they must think. In Ray Bradbury 's novel, Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury creates the stereotypical character, Mildred who does not think for herself versus Clarisse, a character who is not afraid to question things and who constantly challenges society.
Using fear, while not aggressively, Silveri highlights the fact that excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading leading cause of preventable death. The author discusses this topic in a way that seems to be to scare anybody she is trying to convince. A mother reading this could worry about her daughter, or a young man in college who drinks often could take his drinking habits far more seriously after reading something like that. Also, ending the article on an optimistic note, she allows the reader to have some hope. Silveri mentions the reduction of maladaptive alcohol use through better recognition of the negative tendencies that comes with alcohol abuse in adolescents. (Adolescent Brain Development and Underage Drinking in the United States: Identifying Risks of Alcohol Use in College
Guy Montag, a fireman in a technologically oriented society, goes against the government to find true happiness. Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, takes place in a dystopian society in a futuristic America where firemen do not put out fires, but rather use fire to eradicate books. This society lavishes ignorance and looks down upon intelligence. The inappropriate use of leisure time in Montag 's world is the biggest contributor to their deficient society, because people no longer have complex personalities, good socializing, parenting, or critical thinking skills.
Robinson, David. From Drinking to Alcoholism: A Social Commentary. London: John Wiley and Sons, 1976.
In some cultures, there are situations that involves drinking. These include: birthday parties, New Year’s festivities, graduations, weddings receptions, Fourth of July, Christmas and Mardi Gras. In these holidays, people usually drink in excess to have a good time and celebrate. Different countries specialize in different types of alcohol, such as: the Italian have really good wine, Mexico is known for beer and tequila, Ireland is famous for beer and whiskey, Japan has their own beverage called Sake, and the United States is known for beer, wine, and whiskey. In these cultures, drinking alcohol is an acceptable type of celebration that teenagers even participate in. Not all alcohol consumed is in celebration. Therefore, “the top 20 percent of drinkers consume approximately 30 percent of all alcohol drunk over a 12-month period” (Grant 290).
Alcohol Prohibition was supposed to improve the country’s social problems but it only led to the rise of powerful criminals. Prohibition was the first of the many culture wars that would divide the United States in the twentieth century. For centuries alcohol has been part of the American life; the prevalence of alcohol in daily life was plainly visible. According to Lerner, “the Americans can fix nothing, without a drink. If you meet, you drink; if you part, you drink; if you make acquaintance, you drink … you start it early in life, and you continue it, until you soon drop into the grave” (1). As the consumption rate of distilled spirits increased, American’s love for drinks caused problems: domestic violence, crime, neglected families, economic ruin, disease, and death. It was these combined effects that led reformers to warn against alcohol. Waves of temperance reformers, and temperance groups like the Washingtonians had tried to change drinkers through voluntary abstinence, but those who believed that moral courage and personal resolve could conquer alcoholism were quickly disappointed (Lerner 2).
Many Americans, religious leaders, and political leaders saw alcohol as the key to all that was evil, a curse on the nation. Significant numbers of people believed that the consumption of alcoholic beverages presented a serious threat to the integrity of their most vital foundations, especially the family (“Prohibition” 846).
Frey and Schonbeck explain that it is estimated that over 76 million people worldwide are affected by alcohol abuse or dependence. The chance of having an alcoholic in one’s life is very high. Children that grow up in an environment with an alcoholic may increase that child’s chance of becoming an alcoholic themselves. In the United States, the most commonly abused drug among youth is alcohol. Even though the legal drinking age is 21, nearly 20% of all alcohol consumed in the United States is by people under the legal age (83). In fact, when youth start drinking at social events in their teenage years, they are greatly increasing their risk of developing alcohol problems (85). Alcoholism can affect people of all ages. Furthermore, some experts try to differentiate between alcoholics and social drinkers. Typically, they base this off of five categories. Social drinkers do not drink alone. They consume minimal amounts of alcohol during social functions. Situational drinkers may not ever drink unless they are stressed out. These drinkers are more likely to drink by themselves. Problem drinkers can be described as a drinker that alcohol has caused problems in their life. However, they usually respond to advice given by others. Binge drinkers are out of control in their alcohol consumption. They may drink until they pass out or worse. Alcoholic drinkers have found that their lives have become unmanageable and that they are completely powerless over alcohol (84). Alcoholics should be cautious of their surroundings to prevent
This research paper will help enable sociologists to determine what the ongoing effects have on an alcoholic and further provides information on the long-term effects that society has to deal with. The significance of alcoholism and sociology is the ability of sociologists to research and discover how human behaviour is affected on many aspects of its effects on a person. An alcoholic can be described as someone who is addicted to drinking alcoholic beverages in excess. What starts out as social drinking can lead to excessive drinking and the many problems associated with alcohol abuse and i...
The practice of delaying a child’s enrollment in kindergarten until age 6 instead of the standard enrollment age of 5 is known as pre-primary academic redshirting. Originally the practice of holding back a child for a year from entering kindergarten in order to provide them an athletic advantage due to advanced physical maturity, the practice of redshirting has developed an emphasis on academic maturity, as redshirting allows students to enter kindergarten having an advantage over their younger and less mature peers in terms of academic preparedness. Redshirting for academic purposes has been on the rise in American schools, as nearly 17% of children in 2008 were admitted to kindergarten at age 6, whereas only 9% of children were admitted to kindergarten at age 6 back in 1993. The sudden increase in redshirting creates significant age and ability gaps in kindergarten classes, providing redshirted children with a better chance of academic success than their younger peers due to more maturity. However, redshirting is not
The problem of alcohol abuse has been recognized for thousands of years, but only more recently have we begun to see alcohol addiction as a treatable disorder. According to the Classical Disease Model of `Alcoholism,' habitual use of alcohol can be identified as a disease. Webster's Dictionary defines the concept of `disease' as follows: "Any departure from health presenting marked symptoms; malady; illness; disorder." Therefore, as many occurrences of alcohol excess provoke such symptoms, it is somewhat understandable that `alcoholism' is classified as a disease. The Classical Disease Model appears to offer a hopeful option. Treatment and sobriety can allow people to lead fulfilling lives. Adjacent to the notion of alcoholism as personal failure or moral deterioration, the Classical Disease Model appears to be a more desirable concept as it provides a motive for the alcoholic to seek treatment and gain sympathy, minimizing personal guilt. As alcoholism is seen as a progressive and, to an extent, hereditary illness for which those afflicted are not accountable, victims avoid being ostracized from society (Jellinek, 1960). Labeling the problem as a `disease' allows the medical profession to take responsibility for the treatment of alcoholism, which puts the problem in a more favourable light than if it were in the hands of psychologists or social workers, thus detaching the stigma connected with the problem while it is put on a par with other diseases such as diabetes or cancer. However, critics of the Classical Disease Model believe stigma helps reduce alcohol problems and aids the alcoholic. Any effort to reduce the stigma which is faced by the alcoholic will reduce pressures to moderate consumption and could have the additional ...
This same culture also advertizes alcohol as fun and pleasurable through movies and commercials. This kind of culture clash between the negative effects of addiction, and the implied positive effects of alcohol through marketing, can cause both adolescents and adults to misinterpret society’s stance on addiction. It is no wonder that our society has behavioral problems with young adults when the culture that we live in sends mixed messages about its stance on addiction (Zastrow, 2010). To study this effect on our culture we need to look at all approaches to the problem.
Alcohol abuse is the most common problem, nowadays. In fact, majority of people drink alcohol repeatedly to the point where they have difficulty to stop. Statistics show that, as much as, “40% of college students report drinking five or more drinks in one episode” (Walters & Baer, 2006). Alcohol has become more popular over the years as advertisements, simultaneously with commercials of it, filled the media. It also is easily accessible and cheap in comparison to other psychoactive substances. On the other hand, alcohol safety awareness programs are barely noticeable. My research will present how alcohol and its abuse gets into people’s lives and how it influences their physical and mental health, as well as, social existence.
The cause of alcoholism is a combination of biological, psychological, and cultural factors that may contribute to the development of...