Inebriation. A cultural studies perspective on normalcy (Drinking, alcohol)

The discourse about drinking is translating values and principles of organi sation prevalent in a society. Certain groups are subject to a pathologisin g of drunkenness (for instance, members of the lower classes, women, adoles cents), while others are granted a right to inebriation (for instance, arti sts) or it is even expected of them. Medicine as the new bourgeois 'natural science' was deeply involved in the creation of this 'natural order'; also , economic interests have been responsible. Research in anthropology and cu ltural studies refutes the dominant assumption of the effects of consuming alcohol being physiologically determine, and instead shows that inebriation is a historically produced cultural technique.