Drinking Cultures: Alcohol and Identity
Drinking Cultures: Alcohol and Identity by Thomas M. Wilson, published by Berg Publishers in May 2005, explores the intricate relationship between alcohol consumption and cultural identity. This first edition spans 304 pages and is presented in English. The book examines how alcohol is woven into the fabric of social relations across various cultures, highlighting its significance despite ongoing health concerns related to its consumption.
Readers will find a comprehensive analysis of alcohol’s role in identity formation, addressing questions about its cultural meanings and implications for self-presentation, ethnicity, and class. The text delves into the diverse functions of drinking, from religious and familial to social and political contexts, and includes original fieldwork that illustrates the interplay of culture and power in settings such as bars and pubs. With insights drawn from various global perspectives, Drinking Cultures provides a thorough examination of how alcohol influences national identity and social dynamics. The book also features two maps, two tables, and two diagrams to enhance the reader’s understanding of these complex themes.
Official synopsis Publisher
Alcohol is not only big business, it has become an essential part of social relations in so many cultures that its global importance may be outdistancing its critics. Despite grim health warnings, its consumption is at an all-time high in many parts of the developed world. Perhaps because drinking has always played a key role in identity, its uses and meanings show no signs of abating. What does sake tell us about Japan or burgundy about France? How does the act of consuming or indeed abstaining from alcohol tie in with self-presentation, ethnicity, class and culture? How important is alcohol to feelings of belonging and notions of resistance?Answering these intriguing questions and many more, this timely book looks at alcohol consumption across cultures and what drinking means to the people who consume or, equally tellingly, refuse to consume. From Ireland to Hong Kong, Mexico to Germany, alcohol plays a key role in a wide range of functions: religious, familial, social, even political. Drinking Cultures situates its consumption within the context of these wider cultural practices and reveals how class, ethnicity and nationalism are all expressed through this very popular commodity. Drawing on original fieldwork, contributors look at the interplay of culture and power in bars and pubs, the significance of advertising symbols, the role of drink in day-to-day rituals and much more. The result is the first sustained, cross-cultural study of the profound impact alcohol has on national identity throughout the world today.
The book includes 2 maps, 2 tables, 2 diagrams.
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