ABSTRACT
The cultural position of drinking has been previously characterised under different typologies as reviewed by Room and Mäkelä (2000) – see also Chapter 2 in this volume. The concept of integrated drinking was first used by Ullman (1958), and Ahlström-Laakso (1976) has also used the integration-segregation concept, illustrating it by data on drinking as an accompaniment to meals and the setting selected for drinking in various European countries. The integration of alcohol with everyday activities was understood in part by describing how alcoholic beverages were consumed with meals and in part by describing what place was selected as the proper place to drink. On the other hand, a traditionally dominant beverage type was the basis of Sulkunen’s (1976, 1983) typology of drinking cultures in Europe. He used alcohol consumption statistics as the basis of his typology and named the countries in relation to beverage preferences ‘beer, wine, and spirits countries’. Mäkelä’s (1983) starting point was the use-value of alcohol. He differentiated three main uses: nutritional use, medical use and use as an intoxicant, although he noted that, in consuming alcohol, the three effects are always simultaneously present. When classifying alcohol cultures, he proposed that the historically dominant use should be adopted as a primary criterion. Reflecting the different dominant use values, in Mediterranean countries heavy intoxication is culturally condemned, while in the northern countries intoxication is sought as an end in itself. Also, the cultural dynamics of controlling excessive drinking vary according to the dominant use. Partanen proposed that the key aspects of drinking were its inherent sociability, and the altered individual state of consciousness, alcohol intoxication (1991). While sociability is the basic impulse bringing people together to drink, it can easily turn to its opposite. Therefore, social controls are necessary parts of drinking, in one form or another and more or less thoroughly interiorised by individuals. In addition, European societies have also been characterised as wet or dry (Room and Mitchell, 1972). Traditionally, ‘wet’ meant a high integration of alcohol in the society’s everyday activities (low
prevalence of abstainers, high prevalence of chronic alcohol-related problems), whereas ‘dry’ meant low integration of alcohol in the social life (a high prevalence of abstainers, a low prevalence of chronic alcohol-related problems). Wineproducing countries were seen as wet and the Nordic countries as dry.
