Alcohol and Culture Change: Current Challenges and Conundrums

1
Alcohol and Culture Change Current Challenges
and Conundrums

• Ann M RocheDirector,
• National Centre for Education and Training on
  Addiction,
• NCETA
• Flinders Universityann.roche_at_flinders.edu.au
• Thinking Drinking 3, Brisbane 5-7 August 2009

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What is Culture?

• Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of
  knowledge, experience, beliefs, values,
  attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion,
  notions of time, roles, spatial relations,
  concepts of the universe, and material objects
  and possessions.
• Culture is communication, communication is
  culture.
• Culture is symbolic communication. Some of its
  symbols include a group's skills, knowledge,
  attitudes, values, and motives. The meanings of
  the symbols are learned and deliberately
  perpetuated in a society through its
  institutions.
• Culture consists of patterns, explicit and
  implicit, of and for behaviour acquired and
  transmitted by symbols, the essential core of
  culture consists of traditional ideas and
  especially their attached values culture systems
  may, on the one hand, be considered as products
  of action, on the other hand, as conditioning
  influences upon further action.
• Culture is a collective programming of the mind
  that distinguishes the members of one group or
  category of people from another.

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Where Does Alcohol Sit?Dominant
social relations construct the object and shape
the discourse. Hence alcohol has been variously
seen as a necessity of life, a poisonous
substance, a hazardous drug, a social lubricant
or a key element of the economy (Foucault,
1995).
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• Alcohols changing historical perspective
• 1830s issue of free trade
• Mid-Victorian era issue of individual morality
• 1880s increasingly a question of social reform
• During WWI issue of national efficiency
• inter-war years issue of leisure, town
  planning
• Post WWII re-emerged as a medical issue
• Then emerged as a public disorder issue with
  concern over anti-social behaviour by young
  people
• Defined also as a part of the leisure industry
  and tourism which frames the issue in terms of
  leisure and tourism rather than health or public
  order
• Also a central part of global corporatisation and
  contemporary libertarian world view
• (e.g. David Korten When Corporations Rule the
  World)

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• Alcohol issues are complex involve leisure,
  food, town planning, free markets, public order
  .
• Both culture change and policy shift can be
  achieved if both the venue and discourse allow
  new alliances to flourish (Greenaway, 2008)
• Western culture possess two defining features
  materialism and individualism
• danger of simplifying the politics of alcohol by
  neglecting the importance of the framing of and
  discourse on issues
• The anti-smoking analogy is of limited value

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Evidence Based Practice and Policy

• Research and evidence is the cornerstone of
  culture change
• While EBP is of fundamental importance, not all
  initiatives need to be evidence based !
• note introduction of needle availability to
  counteract spread of HIV AIDS NOT an evidence
  based strategy, but proved to be highly
  successful.
• Must also engage in innovative work to be able to
  move forward
• Trust our intuition, judgement and aspirations

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Tipping Point(Gladwell, 2001)

• punctuated equilibrium
• (Baumgartner and Jones, 1993)

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Whats Changed?

• Many important social changes in families,
  lifestyles womens roles
• Concept of Youth
• Concept of Culture
• Eternal pursuit of Youthfulness
• Commodification of leisure
• Views about work/life balance
• Drinking patterns (incl. what we drink, how we
  drink)
• Implications for Low Risk drinking and
  prevention

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• YP stay in education longer
• Sexual intercourse experienced earlier and
  earlier ages (42 years 10-12 had had sexual
  intercourse (2002)
• More unsupervised time
• Different experience of family 1 in 6
  families in 2006 were single-parent families vs 1
  in 17 in 1970s
• Get married later (21/23 yrs,1970 28/30 yrs,
  2005)
• 3 Ms deferred (Marriage, Mortgage, Maternity)
• Live at home longer (KIPPERS)
• Have more expendable income
• Different views about work/life balance
• Leisure and recreation a greater priority and we
  live in an increasingly individualised and
  socially disconnected world

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NCETA Research

• Cultural focus
• examines role of social, economic political
  influences

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New NCETA Report Qualitative Research 14-24 year
olds (20 FG, 90 interviews, 12 field
observations)

• Key themes
• Sociality and imperative to belong, demonstrate
  commitment x risk taking
• Negotiating ever changing social interactions
  issue of confidence
• Lack of viable non-drinking identities and real
  world options
• Duty of care esp. among females
• Gender issues and the invisible male in
  regrettable incidents

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Individual freedom vs controlExcess vs
ConstraintEconomic neoliberalism and
globalizationPleasure vs pathologyPursuit of
happiness vs good in a consumer society
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Leisure Lifestyle

• Consumer culture
• characterised by recreation and indulgence
• Greater emphasis placed on work-life balance

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Leisure Lifestyle in Consumer Society

• Generational changes

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Leisure and Lifestyle

• consumption is central to the leisure experience
• leisure is central to ones image
• aspirational, risk-taking, status-defining, and
  image-enhancing leisure time pursuits
• (Measham, 2004)

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Leisure Lifestyle

• Consumption of alcohol
• Popular leisure activity
• Important element of socialisation
• Identity within and distinction between
  friendship groups
• Excessive consumption
• Has become normative

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The Absence of Society(Zygmund Bauman, 2008)

• Describes current driving force of behaviour as
  no longer the desire to
• keep up with the Joneses, but the infuriatingly
  nebulous idea of catching up with supermodels,
  premier league footballers and top-ten singers.
• Some argue that materialism drives us to consume
  alcohol (and drugs) because materialism cannot
  fulfill our search for meaning.

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Social Contagion Theory

• (see O.J. Skog)

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Pleasure

• Seems axiomatic that pleasure is one of the main
  motivators for alcohol use. But rarely mentioned
  or reflected in our policies. Our policies
  suggest that alcohol use only ever emerges from
  or leads to misery, ill health, and social
  dysfunction.
• Speaking the unspeakable. Alcohol use and
  leisure activities with which it is associated
  are inherently about pleasure.
• Much neglected area of public health (since time
  of Plato)
• Too hard to deal with?
• Ignore, disparage, relegate to the
  inconsequential at our peril.

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Field Observation field note excerpt 3

• Observer at Good Vibrations Music Festival
• Entering the grounds of the music festival was
  like entering another world for the daythere is
  a sense that social rules and ways of relating to
  each other were quite different from the outside
  world, allowing people to engage with each other
  with a sense of freedom, free from the formality
  of being among strangers in the real world.
  There was a sense of community freedom from
  normal social conventions, like they were all in
  it together.

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Market Forces

• Market forces - global
• Advertising/Marketing influence young peoples
  decisions about drinking
• When to drink (initiation)
• What to drink
• How much to drink
• Where to drink
• Who to drink with
• Advertising/Marketing part of cultural context

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Promotion

• Sponsorship

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Placement

• Branded promotional material
• Point-of-Sale
• Position
• Films, TV, music

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Price

• Happy Hour
• Pre-loading

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Generational change new ways of drinking

• Drinking style of young people differs to adult
  counterparts e.g., determined drunkenness,
  vertical drinking

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Impact of Alcohol Consumption on Young People
(Newbury-Birch et al., 2009)

• Protective Factors
• Location of first drink children who first use
  alcohol in a home environment and learn about its
  effects from parents are less likely to misuse
  alcohol than those who begin drinking outside the
  home with peers
• Delaying time of first drink
• Having adults who have good relationships with
  appropriate levels of control and support
• Controlled alcohol use is not predictive of later
  problems
• Religious affiliation, esp attendance at
  religious services
• Informed and supportive parental guidance and
  delay in age of initiation

• Positive Consequences
• Some YP benefit from increased confidence when
  communicating with the opposite sex
• Alcohol can increase YPs feelings of sociability
• Drinking alcohol as a means of celebrating and on
  special occasions may be positive for YP

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Current Epidemiological Evidence indicates
(Newbury-Birch et al., 2009)

• Delaying the onset of regular drinking, by
  changing the attitudes of 11-15 year olds, and
  their parents, about alcohol.
• Reducing the harm to young people who have
  already started to drink
• Creating a culture in which YP feel they can have
  fun without needing to drink.
• (inc. in Englands Alcohol HR Strategy, 2007)

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Reported age of first full serve of alcohol, by
age cohort (2004 NDSHS)
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Changes in types of alcohol consumed by risky
drinkers aged 15 to 17 from 2001 to 2004 (data
from 2000-2004 NAC)
The Shift to Spirits
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Harm from Drinking Alcohol
Harm per volume for drinkers drinking less than
three standard drinks per session
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Complex Problems

• Child Awareness (child protection)
• Domestic Violence
• Sexual Assualt

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The Harm Reduction Continuum of Acceptability
tobacco
alcohol
Illicits
HIV/AIDS
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Opportunities for Socio-Cultural Change

• Workplace
• Schools (school to work transition)
• Parents
• Sport
• Provision of legitimate and valued non-drinking
  leisure options
• Redefining the Australian national identity

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1. Workplace

• Changing workplace cultures
• (Pidd and Roche, 2008)

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1. Workers Alcohol use (2004 NDSHS)
of drinkers aged 14 years and over, by
employment status
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Workers alcohol use by age
drinking weekly (or more often) at risky
hi-risk levels
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Proportion of workforce drinking weekly at
short-term risky hi-risk levels, by age
gender
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Transition from School to Work

• Some workplaces more conducive to the development
  of risky patterns of drinking than others e.g.
  hospitality industry
• Workplace culture a pivotal factor

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Workers alcohol use by industry
drinking weekly (or more often) at risky
hi-risk levels
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New NCETA Reports
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2. Schools

• 1. Connectedness
• 2. Social norming
• 3. Media analysis skill
• 4. Social skills development
• 5. Gender issues (incl. sexual assault)

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Social Norms Interventionsto reduce alcohol
misuse in university or college students

• New Cochrane Collaboration review
• Moreira, Smith and Foxcroft. 2009 Cochrane review

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Sexualisation of Young Women/Girls

• New Australian report of
• High levels of sexual assault
• experienced by young
• females attributed to
• coercion and alcohol

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3. Parenting

• Empower
• Support
• Upskill

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Socio-cultural drinking traditions and Parenting

• Leisure realm rich forum for enculturation
• Normative behaviours around drinking are assumed
  expressed

Clipsal 500, Feb 08
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Number of one-parent families in Australia (data
from ABS, 1997, 2006 and 2007)
1 in 6 families in 2006 were single-parent
families vs 1 in 17 in 1970s
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4. Sport
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Reframing Alcohol and Sport
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5. Provision of legitimate and valued
non-drinking leisure options
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6. Redefine the Australian national identity
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Socio-cultural drinking traditions and National
Identity

• A sense of national pride is expressed through
  drinking to excess

International Cricket, Feb 08
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Factors that predict risky drinking

• Relationship with parents (positiveprotective)
• Parental modelling
• Age first started drinking
• NOT socioeconomic status
• Amount of spending money
• Religion (protective)
• School connectedness - perceive teachers to be
  fair and care about them (protective)

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Wicked Problems

• "Wicked problem" is a phrase used in social
  planning to describe a problem that is difficult
  or impossible to solve because of
• incomplete,
• contradictory,
• and changing requirements
• that are often difficult to recognize.
• Moreover, because of complex interdependencies,
• the effort to solve one aspect of a wicked
  problem
• may reveal or create other problems.

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Strategies to tackle wicked problemsWicked
problems cannot be tackled by the traditional
approach in which problems are defined, analysed
and solved in sequential steps. The main reason
for this is that there is no clear problem
definition of wicked problems. Strategies to cope
with wicked problems

• Authoritative
• These strategies seek to tame wicked problems by
  vesting the responsibility for solving the
  problems in the hands of a few people. The
  reduction in the number of stakeholders reduces
  problem complexity, as many competing points of
  view are eliminated at the start. The
  disadvantage is that authorities and experts
  charged with solving the problem may not have an
  appreciation of all the perspectives needed to
  tackle the problem.
• Competitive
• These strategies attempt to solve wicked problems
  by pitting opposing points of view against each
  other, requiring parties that hold these views to
  come up with their preferred solutions. The
  advantage of this approach is that different
  solutions can be weighed up against each other
  and the best one chosen. The disadvantage of is
  that it creates a confrontational environment in
  which knowledge sharing is discouraged.
  Consequently, the parties involved may not have
  an incentive to come up with their best possible
  solution.
• Collaborative
• These strategies aim to engage all stakeholders
  in order to find the best possible solution for
  all stakeholders. Typically these approaches
  involve meetings in which issues and ideas are
  discusses and a common, agreed approach is
  formulated. In his 1972 paper, Rittel hints at a
  collaborative approach one which attempts, "to
  make those people who are being affected into
  participants of the planning process . They are
  not merely asked but actively involved in the
  planning process" A disadvantage of this
  approach is that achieving a shared understanding
  and commitment to solving a wicked problem is a
  time-consuming process. Research over the last
  two decades has shown the value of computer
  assisted argumentation techniques in improving
  the effectiveness of cross-stakeholder
  communication. More recently, the technique of
  dialogue mapping has been used in tackling wicked
  problems in organizations using a collaborative
  approach.

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• No unique correct view of the problem
• Different views of the problem and contradictory
  solutions
• Most problems are connected to other problems
• Data are often uncertain or missing
• Multiple value conflicts
• Ideological and cultural constraints
• Political constraints
• Economic constraints
• Often a-logical or illogical or multi-valued
  thinking
• Numerous possible intervention points
• Consequences difficult to imagine
• Considerable uncertainty, ambiguity
• Great resistance to change and,
• Problem solver(s) out of contact with the
  problems and potential solutions.

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Super wicked problems

• Some researchers make a distinction between
  wicked and super wicked problems. The latter have
  the following additional characteristics
• Time is running out.
• No central authority.
• Those seeking to solve the problem are also
  causing it.
• The paradigmatic example of a super wicked
  problem is global climate change or the
  environment.

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Environment conservation Analogy

• Outward looking
• Conserves vs consumes
• Collective vs individualistic
• Rejuvenates vs exhausts

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Slow Food Movement
The Slow Food movement was founded by Carlo
Petrini in Italy as a resistance movement to
combat fast food. It claims to preserve the
cultural cuisine and the associated food plants
and seeds, domestic animals, and farming within
an ecoregion. It was the first established part
of the broader Slow movement. Source
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_food
Carlo Petrini was born in the commune Bra in the
province of Cuneo in Italy.
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Slow Food Movement (cont.)
Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic
member-supported organization that was founded in
1989, the disappearance of local food traditions
and peoples dwindling interest in the food they
eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how
our food choices affect the rest of the
world.The movement has since expanded globally
to over 85,000 members in 132 countries. Source
http//www.slowfood.com/
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Slow Food
- good, clean and fair food - counteracts fast
food and fast life
VS.
Source http//www.slowfood.com/about_us/eng/philo
sophy.lasso
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Change

• Change means movement.
• Movement means friction.
• Only in the frictionless vacuum of a non-existent
  abstract world can movement or change occur
  without that abrasive friction of conflict.
• (Saul Alinsky)

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Where to from here?

• Japanese proverb
• Vision without action, is a day dream.
• Action without vision, is a nightmare.