Absract Norbert Elias has become a key inspiration for many of the most important researchers of ... more Absract Norbert Elias has become a key inspiration for many of the most important researchers of collective memory and commemorative practices, broadly because his work points to a way beyond the reification of collective memory that is a feature of traditional Durkheimian approaches, and an overly static perspective in Bourdieuian approaches, which have the additional liability of a dominant-dominated class perspective. This paper seeks to indicate trends that have transformed the character of commemoration, which the social theory of Elias are very productive in explaining. Commemorations are marked by a trend from chauvinism and towards reconciliation, from naivety to strategy, from clear messages to abstraction and blandness, and trends towards increasing control by 'memory elites' and individualization. Elias' thought can provide a powerful account of the reasons for these trends, by relating them to the transformation in the nature of interdependencies over the course of a civilizing process. However, the paper concludes by noting the limitations of his thinking, and the need to supplement it with other models. Though the manner in which changes in social competition has driven changes in commemorative practices, commemorations as a practice that seeks explanations for suffering and anxiety cannot be explained well, nor can contingency. At the heart of the lacuna is the absence of a language to discuss in-betweenness, as commemorations are out-of-the-ordinary moments that reflect on, and summon to memory, extraordinary events.
The guest editors of this IPA issue, were formally invited by the editors to be responsible for a... more The guest editors of this IPA issue, were formally invited by the editors to be responsible for a specific volume on memory and commemoration. The guest editors were welcome to present their ideas on transformation (one might say: experience, reflexivity, living through liminality, spiritual process) that brings to the memory with regard to the problem of the possibility of a non-mimetic actualisation of being in the actualisation of the feeling in life. The authors- were all trying to uncover alternative approaches from the depths of non-mainstream European intellectual history-authentic self and genuine memory, as it could be said. In short, we think it would make sense to familiarise ourselves with this special issue on memory and commemoration, which brings us from prehistoric Saharan images, which evoke consciousness for the first time of human history, to the memory of the Northern Ireland peace processes, with a most important Eliasan analysis proposed for understanding the problem of commemoration. They insert critiques of more functional approaches to memory studies and an aesthetically grounded view of modernity. The strength of the papers is probably their well-versed use of a number of theoretical sources and perspectives in relation to a quite well-defined and empirically supported contemporary problem of major social significance (and political significance as well, which is rather well developed in these articles).
The chapter shows how alcohol has played a fundamental role in the process of state formation, an... more The chapter shows how alcohol has played a fundamental role in the process of state formation, and the securing of monopoly of tax that the process of political centralisation is based on. Alcohol and other pyschoactive substances have been a critical source of revenue, with this declining over the course of modernity however, as economies become more advanced and complex. The impulse for generating revenue from alcohol has typically come from the cost of international competition. Alcohol, a particularly suitable good for taxation, has played a significant role in fostering the commercialisation of society, through acting as a stimulus to economic activity more generally, with drinking establishments serving as a nexus for early capitalism in particular. It has also been a major item of industry and trade itself. Drinking establishments also played an important and flexible infrastructure for public administration by the state. Thus, the chapter shows how alcohol has been a critical resource for centralising states.
States of Intoxication: The Place of Alcohol in Civilization, 2018
The chapter examines social pathologies related to alcohol as rooted in social pathologies ‘of’ c... more The chapter examines social pathologies related to alcohol as rooted in social pathologies ‘of’ contemporary civilisation, seeing them as rooted in fundamental features of the civilising process. State formation is shown to be the key historical process that has shaped drinking culture, which has had the effect of disrupting the timeless social forms that have structured drinking occasions: rites de passage and gift relations, as described by Victor Turner and Marcel Mauss. This diagnosis is offered as an attempt to answer a riddle set by leading alcohol researchers such as Mary Douglas and Dwight B. Heath, who have made the claim that outside of complex, differentiated societies, alcohol problems are rare. The argument of the chapter is that state formation processes can help us explain this, as it subverts the highly ritualised, socially integrative nature of drinking. It is postulated that an anthropologically informed historical sociology is crucial to understanding drinking cultures and their problems, as they provide comparative-historical reference points with which to examine the issue, and insight into the key dynamics that have shaped it.
Research on small-scale societies has emphasised the generally benign nature of drinking that occ... more Research on small-scale societies has emphasised the generally benign nature of drinking that occurs in them, due to the regulating effect of ritual. This chapter reviews a series of challenges that have been made against this assertion. The first is 'problem deflation', where it is argued that an unrealistically positive representation of drinking culture is provided by these researchers. This is due to theoretical models that focus on how order is maintained, a tendency to romanticise distant cultures, a failure to use epidemiological studies to triangulate their studies against, and the status politics of researchers determining their interpretation of data. The second is the example of drinking rituals in contemporary societies, which do not appear to be benign. The chapter shows that these rituals are quite different, being liminoid, rather than liminal rituals, which can be labelled 'rites of life projects'. Through a process of deritualisation, these rites involving alcohol, have been diminished, banalised, individualised as they occur in the context of liquid modernity and a risk society, have become more fluid and less structured, extended, and have become more focused on manufacturing extraordinary experiences. The third challenge is that the anthropology of alcohol has often lacked a macro level perspective informed by political economy
Building upon the work of Monaghan (2002, 2004), Lister et al. (2000, 2001, 2009) and Hobbs et al... more Building upon the work of Monaghan (2002, 2004), Lister et al. (2000, 2001, 2009) and Hobbs et al. (2003), all working in a British context, the aim of this study was to understand how door supervisors manage and regulate the night-time economy in an Irish context. Drawing on observations of and accounts given by door supervisors of their experiences as precarious workers in the night-time economy, this paper explores how their experiences of precarious employment are related to and exacerbated by certain features of the night-time economy. The conditions of the precarious work done by door supervisors were found to be produced at three levels including: the macroeconomic level, which has seen neoliberal policies contribute greatly to the growth of the services sector and the subsequent demand for flexibility, and the national and local levels in terms of both the private security services legislation and the local economic climate. While the position of door staff in the night-time economy is undoubtedly ambivalent and contradictory (Monaghan 2004), the lived experience of doing door work for the majority of those interviewed in this study was characterized by perceived disempowerment in terms of emotional labour, moral injury and vulnerability. Furthermore, while the ‘political potential’ (Waite 2009: 413) of the term precarity has been highlighted, it is deemed unlikely that the term will be adopted by door supervisors for political action.
Public order offences are considered to be ‘quality of life crimes’ that have
a considerable impa... more Public order offences are considered to be ‘quality of life crimes’ that have a considerable impact on well-being and take up significant public resources (NCC 2003: 10). The most commonly prosecuted offences include disorderly conduct, intoxication, abusive or insulting behaviour, and failure to comply with the directions of An Garda Síochána.
Alcohol has come to be one of the major targets of public health policy. The WHO places it as the... more Alcohol has come to be one of the major targets of public health policy. The WHO places it as the fifth most serious risk to health globally. The burden is heavier in developed countries, as a result of the tendency for consumption to rise alongside incomes, with alcohol there defined as the 3rd most detrimental risk factor (Babor 2010). It’s causal role is not direct, but contributory, being an aspect of a complex set of correlations, associated with negative health outcomes such as injuries, neuropsychiatric conditions, chronic disease conditions, as well as related diffuse and difficult to define social costs such as violence, interpersonal problems and productivity losses. The central goal of public health policy is an overall reduction of the level of alcohol use, on the premise all consumption involves risk, that there is no safe level of consumption, and critically, the evidence that the overall level of consumption increases the overall risk for the population. It is a policy programme that emerged in the 1960s, increasing in influence until in the early 1980s when the WHO fully adopted the perspective, thereby gaining greater and greater traction over the policy programmes of governments worldwide (Butler et al 2017: 14-16). It is a part of the long debate over how alcohol should be best regulated and managed that has plagued modern societies, as they have shifted from laissez-faire policies, to temperance based paternalism, to prohibition, and the AA based disease model that focused social concern of the cohort of the population defined as addicts. As these have come to be discredited the policy objective of those concerned with the social and health impact of alcohol has moved towards encouraging and assisting national governments in addressing alcohol-related harm by introducing regulatory control measures across the whole population, as a means of maximising health, involving policy tools for reducing availability and regulating price and marketing (Butler 2017: 1).
This essay is a case study of a group of property developers, including U2's Bono and the Edge wh... more This essay is a case study of a group of property developers, including U2's Bono and the Edge who sought to redevelop the Clarence Hotel, located in Temple Bar, but who to this point have failed in their endeavour after a prolonged struggle through the planning permission process. The motive of these actors is as much about reshaping the collective identity of the city and nation, as it is about acquisitiveness. The power of elite individuals to influence how identity is enshrined in the built environment is examined, as is the clash between visions of collective identity rooted in modernism and the local versus postmodernism, futurity and the global.
The consequences of unemployment are more than absolute and relative poverty, involving the depri... more The consequences of unemployment are more than absolute and relative poverty, involving the deprivation of material necessities, and an inability to participate fully in the life of society. In addition, there is a deprivation of the experience of living in a physical environment that is empowering and enriching. This chapter compares and contrasts the nature of spaces and the built environment in a series of areas with high levels of unemployment with a series of areas with low levels of unemployment, through collecting photographs of streetscapes and other spaces such as parks and fi elds. The analysis shows that neighbourhoods with high unemployment present a challenge to the experience of self and social effi cacy, as barriers exist against the fostering of an identity, and having a sense of control over one's surroundings. These are often problematic environments, in terms of poor original design and thoughtlessness in their planning that people must make the best of, or else become demoralised. Within them valuable built legacies are falling into disrepair amid social disorganisation and a decay of the public realm. Poor planning disempowers people by creating spaces that are dif-fi cult for people to establish control and ownership over, leading to a feeling of having development imposed on one's area by outside agencies. It is perhaps controversial to make this statement, but areas with high unemployment also have more examples of ugliness and less examples of beauty. This can be seen very simply in the dramatic difference in the quantity of nature and green spaces and the presence of a monotone greyness, but also more abstractly in different levels of special, out of the ordinary features, and lower levels of harmony, and more chaotic design. Beauty is a concept that has been of marginal interest in the social sciences (see Szakolczai, 2007), but this chapter makes the point that when thinking of what constitutes and how to ameliorate disadvantage, it is not suffi cient to think of it only in terms of its material dimensions, but that it also must be thought of in terms of qualitative dimensions such as beauty. John O'Brien 5 Places : graceful living: the experience of unemployment and the built environment 9780719097904c05_p69-89.indd 69 9780719097904c05_p69-89.indd 69 11/27/2014 2:55:35 PM 11/27/2014 2:55:35 PM
Statesman: the Politics of Limits and the Liminal, 2013
Statesman is a part of an incomplete series that begins by exploring the nature of knowledge (The... more Statesman is a part of an incomplete series that begins by exploring the nature of knowledge (Theaetetus), then seeks to identify the figure of the sophist, who produces mere copies of truth (Sophist), and which then seeks to identify the statesman (Statesman) and the philosopher. However, the promised dialogue on the philosopher never comes. Because of the similarity of the statesman to the philosopher-kings outlined in Republic and the focus of all of these dialogues on the question of knowledge, we may suppose that this omission may be intentional and that Plato is making a point on the link between knowledge and the qualification for political office. The dialogue consequently sets out the nature of the knowledge that provides the statesman with their expertise. While the previous dialogue, Sophist, introduces the slippery figure of the sophist, who merely mimics the truth, and thereby produces non-being, or that which is not, making the recognition of the knowledge that is linked with leadership ability difficult, a new problem of ‘coding’ is introduced in Statesman. Law is a paradigmatic example of the codifying of instructions that automatically call forth actions on the basis of set parameters. It has parallels with scientific and technical means of picturing and controlling reality, as these too are based on the establishment of set procedures for achieving an outcome, which can then be encoded and run automatically to achieve some goal. The dialogue deals with the inappropriateness of these methods of picturing and acting for human affairs, as they fail to, and in fact simply cannot, incorporate essential features of humanity into their schemata in an adequate way. This is a significant problem, as code has proliferated in our world, so turning to Plato’s diagnosis of this issue as a means of recovering the proper place of human expertise, relative to technical means in social life, can provide important lessons.
Intoxification and Civilization: The Transition from Ritual and Gift-Relations in Drinking Culture, 2009
The article examines the changing understandings of drinking culture in the broadest possible sen... more The article examines the changing understandings of drinking culture in the broadest possible sense through contrasting 'simple' societies with societies that have undergone the modernization process. What is striking in this is the non-problematic nature of drinking culture in the first group and the problematic nature of drinking culture in the second. The cause of the change is a shift in the basis of the social order from the ritual process and gift-relations to alternative mechanisms through state formation processes. This has the effect of displacing and undermining the traditional mechanisms of social integration and regulation, thereby disrupting the culture of everyday life, and laying the ground for the mass experience of dependency and alcohol-related problems in modernity.
Absract Norbert Elias has become a key inspiration for many of the most important researchers of ... more Absract Norbert Elias has become a key inspiration for many of the most important researchers of collective memory and commemorative practices, broadly because his work points to a way beyond the reification of collective memory that is a feature of traditional Durkheimian approaches, and an overly static perspective in Bourdieuian approaches, which have the additional liability of a dominant-dominated class perspective. This paper seeks to indicate trends that have transformed the character of commemoration, which the social theory of Elias are very productive in explaining. Commemorations are marked by a trend from chauvinism and towards reconciliation, from naivety to strategy, from clear messages to abstraction and blandness, and trends towards increasing control by 'memory elites' and individualization. Elias' thought can provide a powerful account of the reasons for these trends, by relating them to the transformation in the nature of interdependencies over the course of a civilizing process. However, the paper concludes by noting the limitations of his thinking, and the need to supplement it with other models. Though the manner in which changes in social competition has driven changes in commemorative practices, commemorations as a practice that seeks explanations for suffering and anxiety cannot be explained well, nor can contingency. At the heart of the lacuna is the absence of a language to discuss in-betweenness, as commemorations are out-of-the-ordinary moments that reflect on, and summon to memory, extraordinary events.
The guest editors of this IPA issue, were formally invited by the editors to be responsible for a... more The guest editors of this IPA issue, were formally invited by the editors to be responsible for a specific volume on memory and commemoration. The guest editors were welcome to present their ideas on transformation (one might say: experience, reflexivity, living through liminality, spiritual process) that brings to the memory with regard to the problem of the possibility of a non-mimetic actualisation of being in the actualisation of the feeling in life. The authors- were all trying to uncover alternative approaches from the depths of non-mainstream European intellectual history-authentic self and genuine memory, as it could be said. In short, we think it would make sense to familiarise ourselves with this special issue on memory and commemoration, which brings us from prehistoric Saharan images, which evoke consciousness for the first time of human history, to the memory of the Northern Ireland peace processes, with a most important Eliasan analysis proposed for understanding the problem of commemoration. They insert critiques of more functional approaches to memory studies and an aesthetically grounded view of modernity. The strength of the papers is probably their well-versed use of a number of theoretical sources and perspectives in relation to a quite well-defined and empirically supported contemporary problem of major social significance (and political significance as well, which is rather well developed in these articles).
The chapter shows how alcohol has played a fundamental role in the process of state formation, an... more The chapter shows how alcohol has played a fundamental role in the process of state formation, and the securing of monopoly of tax that the process of political centralisation is based on. Alcohol and other pyschoactive substances have been a critical source of revenue, with this declining over the course of modernity however, as economies become more advanced and complex. The impulse for generating revenue from alcohol has typically come from the cost of international competition. Alcohol, a particularly suitable good for taxation, has played a significant role in fostering the commercialisation of society, through acting as a stimulus to economic activity more generally, with drinking establishments serving as a nexus for early capitalism in particular. It has also been a major item of industry and trade itself. Drinking establishments also played an important and flexible infrastructure for public administration by the state. Thus, the chapter shows how alcohol has been a critical resource for centralising states.
States of Intoxication: The Place of Alcohol in Civilization, 2018
The chapter examines social pathologies related to alcohol as rooted in social pathologies ‘of’ c... more The chapter examines social pathologies related to alcohol as rooted in social pathologies ‘of’ contemporary civilisation, seeing them as rooted in fundamental features of the civilising process. State formation is shown to be the key historical process that has shaped drinking culture, which has had the effect of disrupting the timeless social forms that have structured drinking occasions: rites de passage and gift relations, as described by Victor Turner and Marcel Mauss. This diagnosis is offered as an attempt to answer a riddle set by leading alcohol researchers such as Mary Douglas and Dwight B. Heath, who have made the claim that outside of complex, differentiated societies, alcohol problems are rare. The argument of the chapter is that state formation processes can help us explain this, as it subverts the highly ritualised, socially integrative nature of drinking. It is postulated that an anthropologically informed historical sociology is crucial to understanding drinking cultures and their problems, as they provide comparative-historical reference points with which to examine the issue, and insight into the key dynamics that have shaped it.
Research on small-scale societies has emphasised the generally benign nature of drinking that occ... more Research on small-scale societies has emphasised the generally benign nature of drinking that occurs in them, due to the regulating effect of ritual. This chapter reviews a series of challenges that have been made against this assertion. The first is 'problem deflation', where it is argued that an unrealistically positive representation of drinking culture is provided by these researchers. This is due to theoretical models that focus on how order is maintained, a tendency to romanticise distant cultures, a failure to use epidemiological studies to triangulate their studies against, and the status politics of researchers determining their interpretation of data. The second is the example of drinking rituals in contemporary societies, which do not appear to be benign. The chapter shows that these rituals are quite different, being liminoid, rather than liminal rituals, which can be labelled 'rites of life projects'. Through a process of deritualisation, these rites involving alcohol, have been diminished, banalised, individualised as they occur in the context of liquid modernity and a risk society, have become more fluid and less structured, extended, and have become more focused on manufacturing extraordinary experiences. The third challenge is that the anthropology of alcohol has often lacked a macro level perspective informed by political economy
Building upon the work of Monaghan (2002, 2004), Lister et al. (2000, 2001, 2009) and Hobbs et al... more Building upon the work of Monaghan (2002, 2004), Lister et al. (2000, 2001, 2009) and Hobbs et al. (2003), all working in a British context, the aim of this study was to understand how door supervisors manage and regulate the night-time economy in an Irish context. Drawing on observations of and accounts given by door supervisors of their experiences as precarious workers in the night-time economy, this paper explores how their experiences of precarious employment are related to and exacerbated by certain features of the night-time economy. The conditions of the precarious work done by door supervisors were found to be produced at three levels including: the macroeconomic level, which has seen neoliberal policies contribute greatly to the growth of the services sector and the subsequent demand for flexibility, and the national and local levels in terms of both the private security services legislation and the local economic climate. While the position of door staff in the night-time economy is undoubtedly ambivalent and contradictory (Monaghan 2004), the lived experience of doing door work for the majority of those interviewed in this study was characterized by perceived disempowerment in terms of emotional labour, moral injury and vulnerability. Furthermore, while the ‘political potential’ (Waite 2009: 413) of the term precarity has been highlighted, it is deemed unlikely that the term will be adopted by door supervisors for political action.
Public order offences are considered to be ‘quality of life crimes’ that have
a considerable impa... more Public order offences are considered to be ‘quality of life crimes’ that have a considerable impact on well-being and take up significant public resources (NCC 2003: 10). The most commonly prosecuted offences include disorderly conduct, intoxication, abusive or insulting behaviour, and failure to comply with the directions of An Garda Síochána.
Alcohol has come to be one of the major targets of public health policy. The WHO places it as the... more Alcohol has come to be one of the major targets of public health policy. The WHO places it as the fifth most serious risk to health globally. The burden is heavier in developed countries, as a result of the tendency for consumption to rise alongside incomes, with alcohol there defined as the 3rd most detrimental risk factor (Babor 2010). It’s causal role is not direct, but contributory, being an aspect of a complex set of correlations, associated with negative health outcomes such as injuries, neuropsychiatric conditions, chronic disease conditions, as well as related diffuse and difficult to define social costs such as violence, interpersonal problems and productivity losses. The central goal of public health policy is an overall reduction of the level of alcohol use, on the premise all consumption involves risk, that there is no safe level of consumption, and critically, the evidence that the overall level of consumption increases the overall risk for the population. It is a policy programme that emerged in the 1960s, increasing in influence until in the early 1980s when the WHO fully adopted the perspective, thereby gaining greater and greater traction over the policy programmes of governments worldwide (Butler et al 2017: 14-16). It is a part of the long debate over how alcohol should be best regulated and managed that has plagued modern societies, as they have shifted from laissez-faire policies, to temperance based paternalism, to prohibition, and the AA based disease model that focused social concern of the cohort of the population defined as addicts. As these have come to be discredited the policy objective of those concerned with the social and health impact of alcohol has moved towards encouraging and assisting national governments in addressing alcohol-related harm by introducing regulatory control measures across the whole population, as a means of maximising health, involving policy tools for reducing availability and regulating price and marketing (Butler 2017: 1).
This essay is a case study of a group of property developers, including U2's Bono and the Edge wh... more This essay is a case study of a group of property developers, including U2's Bono and the Edge who sought to redevelop the Clarence Hotel, located in Temple Bar, but who to this point have failed in their endeavour after a prolonged struggle through the planning permission process. The motive of these actors is as much about reshaping the collective identity of the city and nation, as it is about acquisitiveness. The power of elite individuals to influence how identity is enshrined in the built environment is examined, as is the clash between visions of collective identity rooted in modernism and the local versus postmodernism, futurity and the global.
The consequences of unemployment are more than absolute and relative poverty, involving the depri... more The consequences of unemployment are more than absolute and relative poverty, involving the deprivation of material necessities, and an inability to participate fully in the life of society. In addition, there is a deprivation of the experience of living in a physical environment that is empowering and enriching. This chapter compares and contrasts the nature of spaces and the built environment in a series of areas with high levels of unemployment with a series of areas with low levels of unemployment, through collecting photographs of streetscapes and other spaces such as parks and fi elds. The analysis shows that neighbourhoods with high unemployment present a challenge to the experience of self and social effi cacy, as barriers exist against the fostering of an identity, and having a sense of control over one's surroundings. These are often problematic environments, in terms of poor original design and thoughtlessness in their planning that people must make the best of, or else become demoralised. Within them valuable built legacies are falling into disrepair amid social disorganisation and a decay of the public realm. Poor planning disempowers people by creating spaces that are dif-fi cult for people to establish control and ownership over, leading to a feeling of having development imposed on one's area by outside agencies. It is perhaps controversial to make this statement, but areas with high unemployment also have more examples of ugliness and less examples of beauty. This can be seen very simply in the dramatic difference in the quantity of nature and green spaces and the presence of a monotone greyness, but also more abstractly in different levels of special, out of the ordinary features, and lower levels of harmony, and more chaotic design. Beauty is a concept that has been of marginal interest in the social sciences (see Szakolczai, 2007), but this chapter makes the point that when thinking of what constitutes and how to ameliorate disadvantage, it is not suffi cient to think of it only in terms of its material dimensions, but that it also must be thought of in terms of qualitative dimensions such as beauty. John O'Brien 5 Places : graceful living: the experience of unemployment and the built environment 9780719097904c05_p69-89.indd 69 9780719097904c05_p69-89.indd 69 11/27/2014 2:55:35 PM 11/27/2014 2:55:35 PM
Statesman: the Politics of Limits and the Liminal, 2013
Statesman is a part of an incomplete series that begins by exploring the nature of knowledge (The... more Statesman is a part of an incomplete series that begins by exploring the nature of knowledge (Theaetetus), then seeks to identify the figure of the sophist, who produces mere copies of truth (Sophist), and which then seeks to identify the statesman (Statesman) and the philosopher. However, the promised dialogue on the philosopher never comes. Because of the similarity of the statesman to the philosopher-kings outlined in Republic and the focus of all of these dialogues on the question of knowledge, we may suppose that this omission may be intentional and that Plato is making a point on the link between knowledge and the qualification for political office. The dialogue consequently sets out the nature of the knowledge that provides the statesman with their expertise. While the previous dialogue, Sophist, introduces the slippery figure of the sophist, who merely mimics the truth, and thereby produces non-being, or that which is not, making the recognition of the knowledge that is linked with leadership ability difficult, a new problem of ‘coding’ is introduced in Statesman. Law is a paradigmatic example of the codifying of instructions that automatically call forth actions on the basis of set parameters. It has parallels with scientific and technical means of picturing and controlling reality, as these too are based on the establishment of set procedures for achieving an outcome, which can then be encoded and run automatically to achieve some goal. The dialogue deals with the inappropriateness of these methods of picturing and acting for human affairs, as they fail to, and in fact simply cannot, incorporate essential features of humanity into their schemata in an adequate way. This is a significant problem, as code has proliferated in our world, so turning to Plato’s diagnosis of this issue as a means of recovering the proper place of human expertise, relative to technical means in social life, can provide important lessons.
Intoxification and Civilization: The Transition from Ritual and Gift-Relations in Drinking Culture, 2009
The article examines the changing understandings of drinking culture in the broadest possible sen... more The article examines the changing understandings of drinking culture in the broadest possible sense through contrasting 'simple' societies with societies that have undergone the modernization process. What is striking in this is the non-problematic nature of drinking culture in the first group and the problematic nature of drinking culture in the second. The cause of the change is a shift in the basis of the social order from the ritual process and gift-relations to alternative mechanisms through state formation processes. This has the effect of displacing and undermining the traditional mechanisms of social integration and regulation, thereby disrupting the culture of everyday life, and laying the ground for the mass experience of dependency and alcohol-related problems in modernity.
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a considerable impact on well-being and take up significant public resources (NCC 2003: 10). The most commonly prosecuted offences include disorderly conduct, intoxication, abusive or insulting behaviour, and failure to comply with the directions of An Garda Síochána.
a considerable impact on well-being and take up significant public resources (NCC 2003: 10). The most commonly prosecuted offences include disorderly conduct, intoxication, abusive or insulting behaviour, and failure to comply with the directions of An Garda Síochána.