Drinking Occasions: Comparative Perspectives on Alcohol and Culture

by Dwight B. Heath

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781135841874
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/06/2012
Series:	ICAP Series on Alcohol in Society
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Heath, Dwight B.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: "To Everyone There is a Season...": When Do People Drink? Chapter 2: Everything in It's Place: Where Do People Drink. Chapter 3: Cast if Characters: Who Drinks, and Who Doesn't? Chapter 4: "There's More Than One Way...": How Do People Drink? Chapter 5: "A Rose By Any Other Name...": What Do People Drink? Chapter 6: "The Heart Has Its Reasons:: Why Do People Drink? Chapter 7: Conclusions and Implications. References.

Editorial Reviews

2 Stars from Doody

Americans have a long history of ambivalence about the role of alcohol in their society. This vacillation turned to mayhem in 1919, when the 18th Amendment to the Constitution (later repealed) introduced Prohibition, which banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol nationwide. Today in the United States, a person legally becomes an adult at the age of 18: he or she becomes a citizen who can vote, serve in the military, sign a contract, marry, buy a gun, or buy a pack of cigarettes, but who cannot buy a beer or a glass of wine. Out of this gloomy picture shines a bright light: Dwight Heath's eminently sensible, intelligent, and hopeful book, Drinking Occasions: Comparative Perspectives on Alcohol and Culture, in which he describes the variety and versatility of drinking in many other parts of the world....The physical, psychological, and social benefits of alcohol are well established. Heath's book provides a well-documented glimpse into the use of alcohol in other cultures and reveals how the United States -- in purportedly trying to produce a good, by dictum and denial -- often ends up doing harm.

New England Journal Of Medicine

The author of this book describes the patterns of consumption of the majority of persons who fit into the normal categories as he defines them. He utilizes a journalistic reporter approach to the subject, addressing the "Five Ws" — who, what, when, where, and why. The purpose is to examine how people use alcohol through an international and cross-cultural perspective in an attempt to better understand the role alcohol has historically played in culture. This historical perspective is vital to gaining insight into current alcohol use patterns and drinking behavior. The author of this book promotes the idea that there is significant variety in who, what, when, where, and why people drink alcohol through exploration of the range of behaviors from one end of the continuum to the other. This book is written primarily for public health professionals and secondarily for the lay public. I would question the value of the book to the primary audience as the questions are explored but no insights are offered from the exploration. I also feel that the lay public would find the book somewhat dry and tedious reading. The author's credentials are impressive and indicate that he has conducted extensive research in the area of alcohol and culture. The discussion of alcohol use from a variety of cultural perspectives is an interesting one, in particular the question "Why Does it Matter?" at the end of each chapter. However, there is little hard data and most of the discussion is speculative and very general in nature. I found this book to be too general with few behavioral insights. Although this work may be valuable as an anthropological study, I did not find it particularly useful from apublic health perspective.

Sara Jane Gainor

Reviewer: Sara Jane Gainor, MBA, LSW, NCAC (West Virginia University)
Description: The author of this book describes the patterns of consumption of the majority of persons who fit into the normal categories as he defines them. He utilizes a journalistic reporter approach to the subject, addressing the "Five Ws" — who, what, when, where, and why.
Purpose: The purpose is to examine how people use alcohol through an international and cross-cultural perspective in an attempt to better understand the role alcohol has historically played in culture. This historical perspective is vital to gaining insight into current alcohol use patterns and drinking behavior. The author of this book promotes the idea that there is significant variety in who, what, when, where, and why people drink alcohol through exploration of the range of behaviors from one end of the continuum to the other.
Audience: This book is written primarily for public health professionals and secondarily for the lay public. I would question the value of the book to the primary audience as the questions are explored but no insights are offered from the exploration. I also feel that the lay public would find the book somewhat dry and tedious reading. The author's credentials are impressive and indicate that he has conducted extensive research in the area of alcohol and culture.
Features: The discussion of alcohol use from a variety of cultural perspectives is an interesting one, in particular the question "Why Does it Matter?" at the end of each chapter. However, there is little hard data and most of the discussion is speculative and very general in nature.
Assessment: I found this book to be too general with few behavioral insights. Although this work may be valuable as an anthropological study, I did not find it particularly useful from a public health perspective.

Doody's Review Service