Introduction

This chapter is a feminist exploration of alcohol consumption by young adults, focusing on new patterns of alcohol consumption shaped by the social relations of gender. We seek to restore a sense of agency to young women's alcohol consumption, and show how feminine drinking practices have begun to impact upon consumption by young men. While recognising similarities between the drinking patterns of each gender, we identify key gender distinctions between the drinking styles of young men and young women; rejecting the notion of a ‘convergence culture’. The initial sections critically address how government, newspapers and social media weave negative scrutiny alongside the promotion of neoliberal pleasures through sexualised images of young British women's increased freedom to drink. The data within this chapter are drawn from two ethnographic studies taking place in Canterbury and South London in the United Kingdom. The aim is to use these forms of participation observation to explore the extent to which forms of agency exist for young women and men within these new drinking cultures.

The field of alcohol: an arena of social contradictions and opportunities

For young British adults drinking alcohol is defined by having a good time. Consumption of alcohol increases forms of social confidence, while establishing bonds of solidarity, memory and friendship. The site of young people's motivation for ‘getting drunk’ is fed by an independent and global corporate culture industry that is defined by profit, while promoting images of responsible drinking (Plant and Plant, 2006). To understand the complexity of these social actions by individuals and institutions, we consider Bourdieu's (1984) concept of field as a useful tool to instigate our analysis of alcohol production and consumption as a social and cultural arena where people and institutions at micro and macro levels manoeuvre and struggle in pursuit of power and pleasure. Butler (1999, p 113) argues that: ‘Bourdieu's work offers a reading of social practice that reintroduces the market as the context of social power’; adding that his critique is directed at ‘exposing false antinomies’ (1999, p 126). Specifically within this chapter, field operates in terms of change and constraint governed by the market economy and capital in relation to alcohol. Within the field of alcohol, we identify competition between different parties, including government, the media, charity organisations and the brewery industry.