Double Measures: The Moral Regulation of Alcohol Consumption, Past and Present

Abstract

On September 10th 2008 the Guardian newspaper produced a special supplement titled ‘Alcohol and Us’. It was essentially driven by an agenda about ‘binge drinking’. The articles were heavily research based. One half-page article provided an historical perspective, comparing contemporary concerns about ‘binge drinking’ with the ‘gin craze’ of the early eighteenth century. Sociologist Fiona Measham identified ‘a cycle of moral panics’ about alcohol consumption with recurrent themes: working-class and female consumption as problematic, a politically powerful drinks industry catering to their needs and governments reluctant to act.