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Male drinking and drunkenness in Middletown
Advances in Alcohol & Substance Abuse
|January 1, 1990
Summary
Social norms and dramaturgical roles influence drunken comportment in working-class bars. Alcohol may facilitate these behaviors by altering consciousness, suggesting rewards beyond social license.
Area of Science:
- Anthropology
- Sociology
- Psychology
Background:
- Drunken comportment is theorized as "time-out" behaviors governed by group norms.
- The rewards of socially licensed drunken behaviors are considered the primary drinking motive.
Purpose of the Study:
- To apply the MacAndrews and Edgerton perspective on drunken comportment to working-class bars.
- To investigate the presence of norms and dramaturgical styles in observed bar behaviors.
- To explore the role of altered states of consciousness in drinking rewards.
Main Methods:
- Anthropological evidence and ethnographic observation in working-class bars.
- Analysis of behavioral patterns related to bar, drinker category, and alcohol consumption.
- Typologization of observed dramaturgical styles.
Main Results:
- Observed patterns suggested the presence of norms despite behavioral variation.
- Dramaturgical styles were identified, appearing as sub-culturally desirable role enactments.
- Alcohol's potential to facilitate these activities was linked to altered states of consciousness.
Conclusions:
- Drunken comportment involves socially licensed behaviors influenced by group norms and role-playing.
- Rewards from drinking may arise from altered states of consciousness facilitated by alcohol, not solely from social license.