ABSTRACT
Settings are important for shaping, containing, and giving meanings to drinking occasions. People drink as a gesture in response to the situations in which they find themselves: to be sociable and accommodating; to relieve embarrassment; as a gesture of defiance; to show they are ‘in the know’. Drinking settings perform another function in the creation of drinking patterns: settings organize groups of people into groups of drinkers, creating social occasions predicated upon the use of alcohol. At the community level, the mix of ‘watering holes’ in relation to other places of entertainment, recreation, and civic activity, provides tangible evidence of the extent to which the town organizes its life around drinking. Western philosophical traditions emphasize the freedom of the individual to exercise his or her talents and powers to the fullest in an environment rich with resources and opportunity. Public health prevention policies are sensitive to this ethos.
