Conclusion
-
James Nicholls
Abstract
Three constant issues have tended to underpin the drink question in Britain in all its various forms: social order, health, and economic responsibility. These are inflected by broader social frameworks, not least changing ideas about class, gender, and national identity. The period from the mid-1970s to the establishment of the Alcohol Health Alliance is the first time that a population approach has been established in which the definition of moderate drinking has been given quantifiable parameters. When looking critically at news coverage of binge drinking, it is tempting to see it as a species of moral panic. A number of recent studies have argued that the issues of binge drinking, a deregulated retail market, and the wider culture of alcohol consumption are ‘more than simply a reinvention of the long-standing “problem” of British drunkenness’. Perhaps the most fundamental contradiction that the drink question has exposed is that between the competing conceptions of freedom. The question is whether or not intoxication itself can be understood an expression of freedom.
Abstract
Three constant issues have tended to underpin the drink question in Britain in all its various forms: social order, health, and economic responsibility. These are inflected by broader social frameworks, not least changing ideas about class, gender, and national identity. The period from the mid-1970s to the establishment of the Alcohol Health Alliance is the first time that a population approach has been established in which the definition of moderate drinking has been given quantifiable parameters. When looking critically at news coverage of binge drinking, it is tempting to see it as a species of moral panic. A number of recent studies have argued that the issues of binge drinking, a deregulated retail market, and the wider culture of alcohol consumption are ‘more than simply a reinvention of the long-standing “problem” of British drunkenness’. Perhaps the most fundamental contradiction that the drink question has exposed is that between the competing conceptions of freedom. The question is whether or not intoxication itself can be understood an expression of freedom.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Introduction 1
- 1 A monstrous plant 5
- 2 Healths, toasts and pledges 21
- 3 A new kind of drunkenness 34
- 4 The politics of sobriety 51
- 5 A fascinating poison 59
- 6 Ungovernable passions 73
- 7 Odious monopolies 80
- 8 The last tyrant 96
- 9 A monstrous theory 109
- 10 The State and the trade 130
- 11 Central control 150
- 12 The study of inebriety 161
- 13 The pub and the people 180
- 14 Prevention and health 199
- 15 Beer orders 216
- 16 Drinking responsibly 233
- Conclusion 249
- Bibliography 263
- Index 278
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Introduction 1
- 1 A monstrous plant 5
- 2 Healths, toasts and pledges 21
- 3 A new kind of drunkenness 34
- 4 The politics of sobriety 51
- 5 A fascinating poison 59
- 6 Ungovernable passions 73
- 7 Odious monopolies 80
- 8 The last tyrant 96
- 9 A monstrous theory 109
- 10 The State and the trade 130
- 11 Central control 150
- 12 The study of inebriety 161
- 13 The pub and the people 180
- 14 Prevention and health 199
- 15 Beer orders 216
- 16 Drinking responsibly 233
- Conclusion 249
- Bibliography 263
- Index 278
