Intoxication and bad behaviour: understanding cultural differences in the link

Research developments since the appearance of MacAndrew and Edgerton's land mark volume. Drunken Comportment (1969), are summarized. The challenge of m oving beyond the book is to understand what lies behind cultural variations in drunken comportment. Four specific factors in variations in drunken com portment are discussed. (1) A common contrast is between "wet" societies. w here drinking is banalized everyday. and "dry" societies, where alcohol is set apart as a special commodity. Problems with this contrast are discussed , and the need for cross-cultural studies comparing expectancies from intox ication. (2) There is a need to study variations in the definition of intox ication as a "time out" state. In some societies, intoxication is likened t o possession by spirits: a rationalistic version of this can be found in Ca nadian court decisions viewing extreme intoxication as potentially "akin to automatism". (3) If bad behaviour is a foreseeable consequence of drinking , why do some societies nevertheless not hold the drinker responsible? In A nglo-American and similar societies, drunkenness has some excuse value, but it is not a very good excuse. Compromises like this seem to be found also in other cultures. (4) Pseudointoxication is fairly widespread, and seems t o mark social situations where: alcohol has enhanced excuse value. It appea rs to be a stratagem of the weaker side across cultural boundaries. and of the young where age-grading favours older groups. Concerning the possibilit y of cultural changes in drunken comportment, it is argued that there are h istorical examples, but such a shift requires a substantial social change. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.