ACE alcohol culture exchange

Young people and British drinking cultures

National character

Gender

SOCIAL NORMS

Have you had a drink in the last 30 days?

Source: Eurobarometer, EU Citizens’ Attitudes Towards Alcohol (2010)

Did you have 5-6 drinks on last occasion?

Source: Eurobarometer, EU Citizens’ Attitudes Towards Alcohol (2010)

SOCIAL NORMS

William Hogarth, Gin Lane (1751)

Lack of licensing controls

Expansion of supply

Low taxation

Urban poverty

Reactive policymaking

Concerns about women

National character?

“If the people will destroy themselves by their own excess … ‘tis the magistrates’ business to help that, not the distillers.”

Daniel Defoe, A Brief Case of the Distillers (1726)

Free market v regulation

“If the people will destroy themselves by their own excess … ‘tis the magistrates’ business to help that, not the distillers.”

Daniel Defoe, A Brief Case of the Distillers (1726)

‘Binge drinking is down to individuals. Clamping down on it is a matter for the police, not a reason for raising taxes.’The Sun, Editorial, 13th March, 2008

Free market v regulation

Source: Health Committee, Alcohol (2010)

Consumption (gallons per head) 1800-1935

Source: BBPA, Statistical Handbook (2007)

Consumption (litres per head) 1965-2006

Changing cultures

Licensing liberalised (1961 and 1964)

Supermarket sales

Foreign travel

Greater affluence

Global wine trade

Sophisticated marketing

Culture of consumption

Attitudes and expectations

Alcohol and ambivalence: positive expectations

Source: ESPAD, Substance use among students in 35 countries (2007)

Alcohol and ambivalence: negative experiences

Source: ESPAD, Substance use among students in 35 countries (2007)

Media reporting

Social networks

‘It almost becomes a competition in a way to see who can get as many photos tagged of you as possible.’ (Male, 20-24)(‘Young people, alcohol and the news’, 2009)

‘Binge drinking is eventful drinking. It is risky. Teenagers … accept a degree of battle damage in terms of adverse effects.’(Martin Plant, uncorrected evidence to Health Select Committee, 2009)

Social networks

‘It’s almost like your mates are the paparazzi, ‘cos they’re the ones taking the picture of you … and everyone sees it on Facebook.’ (Female, 18-20)(‘Young people, alcohol and the news’, 2009)

Norms and expectations

It’s as British as rain

Everyone drinks to get drunk

Getting drunk looks like this:

The ‘burden of expectation’ (Ruddock, ‘Binge drinking and why audiences still matter’, 2008)

For some young people, drinking and getting drunk were so much a part of the established social routine that it was difficult for them to think about their motivations for it.

We are a culture that goes out and gets drunk, and we don’t go out to drink, we go out to get drunk (Female, 21-24, non-manual worker)

You don’t have to know the reason for it. You just do it anyway. Everybody

does it, it is the way the world is (Male, 18-20, non-manual worker) (Engineer, et al. Drunk and Disorderly: A Qualitative Study of Binge Drinking Among 18- to 24-years-olds, Home Office 2003)

(Dept. of Health, ‘Alcohol social marketing for England: further tools, support and guidance’ 2010)

It’s just the way things are… ???

(Dept. of Health, ‘Alcohol social marketing for England: further tools, support and guidance’ 2010)