The symbolic value of alcohol: the importance of alcohol consumption, drinking practices and drinking spaces in classed and gendered identity construction

Abstract

Within settings relating to alcohol consumption, an individual’s drinking behaviour is influenced by different social concepts such as gender and class. Goffman (1976) discussed the notion of ‘ideal types’ in terms of the media’s representation of the roles and identities with which different social groups are expected to conform. These ideal types are often gendered, with women being subjected to further restrictions in terms of their behaviour in the public sphere (Grosz, 1994; McRobbie, 2004a; McRobbie, 2004b; Griffin, 2004). Similarly, Young (1990) considers why women have very different ‘everyday’ experiences to men and explores the concept of the ‘lived body’, arguing that from a very early age, girls are encouraged to restrict their bodies in terms of their behaviour to a far greater extent than boys are. Young (1990) suggests the embodiment of what is considered habitual behaviour occurs when individuals modify their own behaviour in light of highly gendered and classed social expectations. This relates to Bourdieu’s (2010) notion of the bodily hexis, the way individuals understand their own social value and how this relates to other social and peer groups. This social construction of behaviour means that individuals often feel constrained by what behaviour and lifestyle choices are deemed appropriate for their identity in particular social settings. Such constraints can influence choices relating to alcohol consumption and related drinking practices, as well as the ways through which individuals and social groups choose to engage with spaces associated with these practices. For example, the gendering of alcohol consumption can lead to individuals adapting and recreating gender-specific drinking practices and stereotypes associated with alcohol consumption (also see Nicholls, this volume). Gender isthus a concept that is reinforced through engagement with practices that relate specifically to masculine or feminine identities, and this is reinforced through media representations of alcohol consumption as well as lived drinking practices (Atkinson et al., 2012). Therefore, the act of engaging in these practices not only reinforces these gendered (and classed) stereotypes but also enables individuals and peer groups to use stereotypes in the construction of their own identity.