ABSTRACT

Most welfare state research focuses on what Gøsta Esping-Andersen (1990) called ‘decommodification’ functions of the state – disconnecting part of the reproduction process from the labour market by state-managed and state-funded income transfers and public services. These secure a living for people who for various reasons are unable to support themselves by earning a wage or a salary. It has gone almost unnoticed that the welfare states have also been major moral projects that have regulated consumption and lifestyles in precise detail and with very concrete objectives for the promotion of the good and healthy life. This has been especially the case in the Nordic welfare states of Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. In these countries alcohol control has been the flagship of the state’s concern for citizen’s welfare and health. Drinking practices and the market for alcoholic beverages have been the object of strict regulation since the late nineteenth century, particularly in Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.