This book brings together a special issue of Contemporary Social Science published in February 2013 (Chapters 4-10) with newly commissioned chapters to examine the implications of social science for alcohol policy.
In his introduction Brooks signposts the three approaches we are to expect: ethical considerations stemming from cultural and historical perspectives on alcohol; the effects of alcohol on human cognitive and psychological functioning; and how social sciences can help reduce harm from excessive drinking.
In Chapter 2, Research and US alcohol and other drug policy, Yalisove provides an extremely accessible summary of US alcohol (and other drug) state and federal policies, outlining the key agencies involved and the data sources which inform policy. Prevention issues are covered, but the strongest focus is on treatment practice. Yalisove points out that often the wealth of evidence is examining the wrong things; or is poorly understood or badly applied when it comes to translation into treatment practice.
Brooks explores links between alcohol and crime in Chapter 3, Alcohol, risks and public policy, beginning with the fact that in England and Wales perpetrators of crime are considered fully responsible for their actions even if they are intoxicated, except, rarely, when intoxication is involuntary. Raising the price of alcohol is also considered, both pragmatically and philosophically. Finally, Brook considers so-called “nudge” measures.
In the thought-provoking Chapter 4, Socially Responsible Investment in the alcohol industry: an assessment of investor attitudes and ethical arguments, de Bruin concludes that there are no good moral reasons for Socially Responsible Investors to boycott the alcohol industry. Rather they should become shareholders and use that position to make the alcohol industry address ethical issues.
Chapter 5, Two decades and a Category 5 hurricane later: tracking homeless substance abusers in New Orleans is an interesting qualitative study with important findings. However, Rayburn does not directly discuss policy, other than indirectly reporting the link between this population and the prison system; and the findings are in relation to alcohol and other drugs, not specifically alcohol.
In Alcohol and the family, Caan quotes the UK Government’s 2012 alcohol strategy “supporting individuals to change” and discusses “from a very personal perspective” the role of alcohol in the family, both in terms of its relationship with the drinker, and its relationship with other family members. The chapter is a series of connected points, a key one of which is his “scaffolding” model, which describes different relationships within the family: couples, children, older people, unborn children.
Minimum unit pricing is discussed in Chapters 7 and 8, not from public health, economics or evidence-based perspectives, but from a philosophical one. Henri argues in The Borders of Booze Britain: alcohol controls and nationality that the notion of Booze Britain was being used in 2012 by David Cameron to justify minimum unit pricing. (It would be interesting to hear Henri’s take on the subsequent policy u-turn). In Minimum pricing for alcohol: A Millian perspective Saunders examines “what […] John Stuart Mill would have said about such a proposal” (i.e. minimum unit pricing in Scotland), with a focus on individual liberty and social harm.
In contrast to the cultural norms portrayed in Chapter 5, Chapter 9 discusses Respectable drinkers, sensible drinking, serious leisure: single-malt whisky enthusiasts and the moral panic of irresponsible others. Spracken’s ethnographic work shows how the norms of drinking in whisky tastings prevent “misbehaviour”, whilst also noting that whisky tastings comprise a white, male, privileged group of people.
Finally, in Chapter 10 Storytelling: Walter Benjamin and recovery from alcoholism Beaupre argues that “storytelling is the way a message of recovery from alcoholism is passed on to fellow sufferers”, and the transmission of experience becomes a tradition in itself.
