Cunningham, Bridget Mary
(2013)
A Case-study of Alcohol Consumption and
of the Irish Public House in late Modernity.
Social processes that manifest themselves as
cultural, economic and political constraints.
PhD thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
Abstract
Social drinking in Ireland is acknowledged as a ‘traditional and a
‘cultural’ pursuit. The social world of the drinker however, is constructed in a
complex way that extends beyond the cultural sphere. Movement of people,
commodities and ideas (global processes) are central to contemporary life-style
choices and leisure activities. The economy at any given time (economic
processes) has a direct bearing on sales and purchases of alcohol. Regulation of
the drinks industry and of drinking practices (political processes) construct a
legal framework within which drinkers and drinks providers are obliged to
operate.
Owing to the harmful effects of excessive alcohol consumption, social
research understandably, focuses on the ‘problematic’ aspects of alcohol misuse,
while ‘moderate’ or ‘social’ drinking practices are largely overlooked. A
sociological approach that would address this oversight calls for a ‘social
process’ methodology that extends beyond the negative elements of alcohol and
instead encompasses the broader concept of social drinking. This project
investigates the experience of the ‘social’ or ‘moderate’ drinker in Ireland from a
cultural ‘life-course’ (Hunt, 2005) perspective that reveals how economic and
regulatory processes are negotiated and experienced at the micro-level.
Research was conducted during 2000-2005, a time of economic prosperity and
optimism. Social conditions that impacted upon lifestyle practices and that
transformed the drinking environment (public house) reflect changes in
consumerist practices along with a strengthening of regulatory processes.
Investigation of the public house as ‘cultural icon’ and as ‘third place’
(Oldenburg, 1999) of informal association reveals the political and economic
frameworks within which it operates. This study of the social world of the
drinker developed into three distinct themes: the definition of the social drinker,
the metamorphosis of the Irish public house and the re-spatialization of social
drinking practices.
| Item Type: |
Thesis
(PhD)
|
| Keywords: |
Alcohol Consumption; Irish Public House; Modernity; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology |
| Item ID: |
5391 |
| Depositing User: |
IR eTheses
|
| Date Deposited: |
10 Sep 2014 09:52 |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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