Constructing Drinking as a Social Problem Cover Image

KONSTRUKCIJA PIJENJA KAO DRUŠTVENOG PROBLEMA
Constructing Drinking as a Social Problem

Author(s): Nevena Milanović Minić
Subject(s): Culture and social structure
Published by: Институт за етнологију и антропологију
Keywords: construction of social problems; drinking; alcoholism; prohibition; anthropology of alcohol

Summary/Abstract: In this article I tackle the issue of construction of drinking as a social problem from social-constructivist perspective, and also offer insights into how conceptions of alcoholism as addiction, drinking and getting drunk as socially acceptable/unacceptable behavior practices correlated to other social processes that took place simoulta- neously and intersected with construction of drinking as a social problem, such as: the invetion of state-nation, concept of responsible citizen, invention of addiction and addictive personality. The process discussed is placed into the frame of construction of social problems as Spector and Kitsuse proposed, but is also noted that it is an incomplete social problem. The basic proposition in this article is that, by acknowledging the drinking as harmful, and thus a social problem, drinking is viewed either as an acceptable or contested social practice; this was the basis for ambivalent relation to alcohol and drinking that is widely adopted and implemented into the social morale through public policy.

  • Issue Year: 19/2019
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 37-56
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Serbian