Alcohol - Social and Cultural Aspects
The Social and Cultural Aspects of Alcohol
Alcohol is uniquely a social drink. The image of the sloppy drunk sitting alone at a bar is singularly American. Solitary drinking is virtually unheard of in other cultures throughout the world. The consumption of alcohol and the attendant costs wrought on society by its abuse: absenteeism, violence, illness, accidents and the like, then must be considered within a social and cultural context.
From the time societies first formed, people have used intoxicating substances in groups for rituals, rites and relaxation, alcohol being the primary intoxicant they’ve employed. Priests have doled it out to penitent sinners in religious ceremonies; fathers and tribal leaders have served it to adolescents to mark their passage into manhood; friends and family have toasted their loved ones in times of celebration and in times of sadness.
How we learn to drink and whether and in what situation we continue to drink is determined most by the people we drink with, the drinking we observe and the attitudes we pick up from people we drink with.
“Sociocultural variants are at least as important as physiological and psychological variants when we are trying to understand the interrelations of alcohol and human behavior. Ways of drinking and of thinking about drinking are learned by individuals within the context in which they learn ways of doing other things and of thinking about them–that is, whatever else drinking may be, it is an aspect of culture about which patterns of belief and behavior are modeled by a combination of example, exhortation, rewards, punishments, and the many other means, both formal and informal, that societies use for communicating norms, attitudes, and values.” Heath, D.B., “Sociocultural Variants in Alcoholism,” pp. 426-440 in Pattison, E.M., and Kaufman, E., eds., Encyclopedic Handbook of Alcoholism, Gardner Press, New York, 1982, p. 438.
Rules and Regulation Relating to Drinking Alcohol
In all cultures, drinking alcohol is governed by rules, explicit and implicit. The form of drinking is usually explicitly laid down, including what type of alcoholic beverage to use, how much and how fast to drink it, when and where to imbibe, plus the accompanying ritual, the age and sex of the drinker, and how to behave when drinking.
Drinking wine with dinner and beer at a sporting event; establishing a legal age for drinking; and doing away with the three martini lunch while promoting happy hours are examples of a society establishing explicit rules for drinking, which rules become part of the cultural norms.
Implicitly, “Individual drinkers tend to model and modify each others’ drinking and, hence,…there is a strong interdependence between the drinking habits of individuals who interact…. Potentially, each individual is linked, directly or indirectly, to all members of his or her culture….” Skøg, O., “Implications of the Distribution Theory for Drinking and Alcoholism,” pp. 576-597 in Pittman, D.J., and White, H.R., eds., Society, Culture, and Drinking Patterns Reexamined, Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies, New Brunswick, NJ, 1991, p. 577
Cross-Cultural Similarities in Rules Which Guide the Consumption of Alcohol
Remarkably, there are significant cross-cultural similarities in the unwritten rules governing alcohol use. Research reveals four universal ‘constants’ in cross-cultural prescriptions:
- Proscription of solitary drinking
- Prescription of sociability
- Social control of consumption and behavior
- Restrictions on female and ‘underage’ drinking
Regulating the Consumption of Alcohol
Studies by social scientists indicate that the unofficial, self-imposed rules and protocols of drinking influence both levels of use and drinking behavior more than legal or external regulations, laws or other controls. “Attempts at prohibition have never been successful except when couched in terms of sacred rules in highly religious cultures.”
The Narconon drug education program helps prevent Alcohol Abuse.
Countries which impose greater limitations and restrictions on drinking alcohol do not necessarily see a reduced incidence of crime, violence or alcoholism as a result of their efforts to curb drinking. Alcoholism is a case in point.
“…In those cultures where drinking is integrated into religious rites and social customs, where the place and manner of consumption are regulated by tradition and where, moreover, self-control, sociability, and `knowing how to hold one’s liquor’ are matters of manly pride, alcoholism problems are at a minimum, provided no other variables are overriding.
The Cross-Culture Variation of Behavior Under the Influence of Alcohol
How people behave when they drink alcohol varies greatly among cultures. In some societies (such as in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Scandinavian countries) alcohol is linked to anti-social and violent behavior. The incident of hooliganism among British soccer fans is a notable case in point. In other cultures (such as those in South America and the Mediterranean countries) drinking behavior is for the most part harmonious and peaceful.
“This variation cannot be attributed to different levels of consumption or genetic differences, but is clearly related to different cultural beliefs about alcohol, expectancies regarding the effects of alcohol and social norms regarding drunken comportment.”