Drinking Occasions: Comparative Perspectives on Alcohol and Culture

The main purpose of this book is to describe the variety of drinking occasions that exist around the world, primarily in modern, industrialized countries. As such, it celebrates the diversity of normal drinking behavior and illustrates a wide range of beneficial drinking patterns. Attention is also paid to the relations between drink and culture that prevail in non-Western societies and in developing countries. The aims of the book are twofold: to deal directly with the challenge of how to define responsible drinking in the face of the world's many different drinking styles, and to portray the many ways in which people have thought about or used alcohol as an integral part of their culture. The contents includes chapters on when, where, how, what, and why people drink, as well as who drinks and who doesn't. By concentrating on descriptions of normal drinking occasions, it distinguishes these as clearly as possible from abnormal or inappropriate occasions. The outgrowth of more than forty years ofresearch, Drinking Occasions demonstrates how well-integrated normal drinking occasions can be with many other aspects of human life. The challenge for alcohol policy around the world is to create an environment in which the beneficial potential of moderate drinking is maximized and the harmful potential of excessive drinking is minimized. Drinking Occasions contributes to this discussion by providing an unbiased account of what actually goes on when people decide to have a drink. The book is also a fascinating look at the various ways in which alcohol has become integrated into people's lives around the world.

Dwight B. Heath, Ph.D. is a Professor of Anthropology (Research) at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.