Where Next for Sociological Alcohol Research?

Sociological research into alcohol use has burgeoned over the past few decades. During this period, young people in many high income countries have, on average, begun drinking less than previous generations. This encourages us to look to new populations at risk from heavy drinking. From an earlier focus on carnivalesque drinking by young people in the night time economy, we are seeing an emerging interest in more mundane drinking practices such as home alcohol consumption and drinking in middle age. Gender continues to shape drinking practices, while also providing a mechanism to challenge expected performances. New materialism has inspired studies exploring alcohol's alignments within complex and evolving networks of forces to generate affordances in our lives that are both wanted and unwanted. Digital technological developments have reshaped possibilities for drinking sociality, sometimes providing new opportunities for non-drinking commensality. At the same time, alcohol promotion on social media brings novel challenges for regulation. The alcohol industry continues its relentless efforts to sell its products to young people, to communities struggling with complex social issues and to expand its markets in developing countries. Discrepancies in health burdens due to alcohol consumption highlight how the social determinants of health pattern societies. The ongoing imperative to encourage responsibility for one's own alcohol consumption discourages public health responses that look beyond individuals and their drinking choices.

This session will provide an opportunity to consider how alcohol researchers working in sociology and cognate disciplines can respond to emerging entanglements of alcohol, social worlds and bodies.