Are Drinking Cultures in the West Changing?
Levels of alcohol consumption have generally decreased in the West over the last ten years. A series of papers published in a recent special issue of Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy focuses on this topic of drinking cultures, particularly among young people in more developed countries. Many researchers have struggled to explain the decline in both the frequency and quantity of drinking within this age group using more traditional concepts such as changes in price, availability and policy. With this in mind, the selection of articles closely explores the factors potentially influencing drinking patterns in Denmark, Italy, Finland and Australia.
Notably, one conclusion reached which is consistent across the countries studied, is that an increase in negative attitudes towards drinking correlates with a reduction in national alcohol consumption. This effectively demonstrates a positive link between perspective and practice. In the Italian context, specifically, one article suggests that, particularly in wine-producing areas, a greater educational emphasis on appreciation for wine, as well as the wine-making process, has led to more moderate drinking habits. This locally-orientated focus tallies with another paper in the collection which argues that in a globalised world it is extremely difficult to neatly explain drinking cultures at the national level as societies are multiple, interconnected and overlapping. In this way, future research into drinking patterns, the article advises, ought to take into account sub-cultural variations and the way in which different social worlds and attitudes interact.