The Effects Of Culture On Drinking Behavior

Thomas-builds-the-fire, as we all do, struggles with the idea of race, culture and identity. He is in the band Coyote Springs and feels a deep connection to the Black Americans who created the blues, the music that they play. However, he and his bandmates are Native American and still want to stay true to their own identities. For example, Phil Sheridan, despite having Coyote Springs, whose members were actually Native American, recruited Betty and Veronica, who were willing to do as Sheridan wanted and conform to what the“Indian” perception was at the time. Sheridan talks to Wright about “[getting] them into the tanning booth. [To] darken them up a bit…a little plastic surgery on those cheekbones. Get them a little higher…dye their hair black”

Before reading the essay the title initially stood out to me, due to the saying being well used in society today. Consequently, I assumed the essay would be about an event that had transpired in someone’s life and their overcoming of it; despite how long it may have taken them. During my reading of the essay, I immediately became curious of my own drinking habits; although I only drink on special occasions, I am now determined to be more adamant on making sure I don’t go overboard with my alcohol intake. By the time I was finished reading the essay I felt proud; proud of the fact that despite the toll that drinking had taken on her life, she still managed to get back on the right track. Overall my favorite phrase from the essay was the Chinese

Throughout the eighteen hundreds saloons were the site of rockus drinking, profane drunkards, and unthinking violence. This drinking culture was defined by masculinity and by free flowing alcohol that permeated all throughout America, city to city. The saloons became so popular with working men because it was time they could spend away from their wives and their homes. In Catherine Murdock’s book Domesticating Drink she argues that these elements of saloon culture, exclusivity, inebriety, and violence, were eliminated by the increase in popularity of mixed sex speakeasies, cocktail parties, and the overall domestication of drink. But this conclusion misinterprets the history of alcohol from Prohibition to the present. Although alcohol is now consumed without the exclusively of the past, it has evolved to be over sexualized and associated with a masculine culture of binge drinking over sexualized and domestic violence.

In these cultures young people learn from their parents about drinking and the responsibility that comes with it. Engs suggests that we need to change the current prohibition law and teach “responsible drinking techniques” for people that choose to consume alcohol. Engs states facts, suggests alternative solutions, and relates the past from the present; this is why her article is believable.

Alcoholism is one of our nation’s largest social issues to date, and carries with it many negative aspects, the most dire being death at the hands of this disease. Alcohol and alcoholism have been part of societies for centuries. This habit was brought over to the new world when the first settlers landed on the shores of what was to become America. Furthermore, in bringing alcohol to this new land an entire nation of Native American Indians were introduced to a product that has affected them more negatively than any other to date, and continues to suffer from today and probably well into the future.

Most people do not end up becoming alcoholics because they are completely satisfied with their life, happy and joyful, and drinking only to celebrate. Yes, it is highly likely that genetics play an important role in the formation of the disease, but a majority of alcoholics drink because they have endured some great trauma. This can either be from trauma from an outside source or emotional turmoil from within. The difference between an alcoholic who drinks because of instances of domestic abuse or clinical depression versus a Native American alcoholic is that the average person’s alcoholism is symptomatic of individual experiences. Alcoholism among the native population is encouraged by overwhelming and uncontrollable outside cultural forces. This is all to say that when Louis writes about his recovery from alcoholism and the effects of the disease on the Native American population, he is reaching beyond the surface implications of excessive drink and moving toward the causes and conditions of that substance abuse. Alcoholism is representative of the struggles the people on Pine Ridge Reservation endure because of EuroAmerican oppression. “Beer, blood, soil, home” writes Louis on page 46. It is all one-in-the-same, representative of a larger trauma that needs to be healed.

The abuser could be the sole financial supporter of the family and cause tremendous turmoil if they were to get injured, physically impaired, killed or arrested because of their alcohol abuse. For example, in the Hispanic culture the male is primarily the financial supporter which can impose additional stress with the individual and family. The women in the Hispanic culture are typically tend to domestic duties including the raising of the children. Nevertheless, Hispanic women can exhibit strong personalities which, can cause additional tension especially when interacting with an alcoholic.

Alcohol-Related Windows on Simmel’s Social World by William J. Staudenmeier Jr. from the text, Illuminating Social Life, dives into the topic of alcohol and how its role in society can be directly reflected back to Simmel’s work. The text was introduced by explaining how alcohol has been a major influence throughout American history and how it has shaped the interactions of difference cultures, races and ethnicities by characterizing drinking as “conflict between coexisting value structures” (98). Simmel’s ideas about the core differences between dyads and triads was applied in the context of how group interaction significantly changed when the role of alcohol becomes a factor to socializing. Three different group stratifications can be seen

Native Americans have struggled to rise above and escape their impoverished reservations because they use alcohol to cope. The alcohol causes the Natives to lower their ambitions and become self destructive. Many might claim that alcohol abuse is not that common on reservations and is not the main source of scarcity of Native success. Not all Native Americans engage in alcoholism. There are “many tribes and individual Native Americans [who] practice abstinence and drinking in moderation, aligning the substance abuse levels of their tribe with the rest of the country” (addictiontreatment.org). It is evident that there is no absolute when it comes to the amount of Native Americans who abuse alcohol. Many are conscious of the disastrous effects

In American culture especially, drinking is seen as a rite of passage or assimilation into adulthood. Young people in many cultures are introduced to drinking early in life, as a normal part of daily living. Whereas in America, drinking at a young age is looked down upon, the reverse is true in societies that maintain the best moderate drinking practices. The idea of a minimum as before someone should be protected from alcohol is alien in China and France. Children learn to drink early in Zambia by taking small quantities when they are sent to buy beer; children in France, Italy, and Spain are routinely given wine as part of a meal or celebration. In the United States, the legal age to drink varies dramatically form others around the world but is still look upon as a step into adulthood. Though attitudes and behaviors vary in different places, drinking can be seen as a routine way of assimilating a youth into their respective culture’s social customs.

Alcohol use and the problems associated with high-risk drinking among Native Americans/ Native Alaskan populations has taken a toll within this particular group of people. Alcohol was initially introduced to the Native American culture by white settlers who had arrived from Europe. Soon after the settler’s arrival, alcohol became a commodity used for trade with Indians for their crops. Alcohol prior to this introduction was not widely used but, this however made alcohol prevalent with Native people and it soon became customary among Native tribes. Alcohol abuse within the Native culture has damaged Native Americans in a way that many in the United States will probably never fully understand.

Alcohol abuse among Native Nations can be attributed to a number of factors, including the introduction of distilled alcohol and fortified wines from the European colonists, as well as current social and cultural factors. Prior to colonization, the Native population may have used alcohol in rituals and ceremonies but drinking to excess became an ‘acceptable’ pastime while they were waiting for annuity payments for ancestral lands sold to the United States.1 Extreme intoxication was common among many European emigrants and their behavior provided a strong role model for the social use of alcohol. Trappers, miners, soldiers, lumbermen and those who traded with the Natives were known for drinking and there are numerous historical accounts of

Some people disagree with the idea that the Native Americans are not solely to blame for their addiction to alcohol. When considering how a person feels about this topic, they must take into consideration the fact that it was not an issue for the Native Americans before the white settlers arrived. Their lives were much simpler, and they did not have to face this problem. Instead, they fell into deep poverty due to their inability to avoid drinking in excess. They could not keep jobs, and put an emphasis on buying liquor, rather than food. Also, the treatment that the white people reserved for the Native

The cultural norms in which one has been brought up also play a major role in how one develops and one’s behavior towards alcohol abuse.

Sarah, an eighteen year old female, moves from a small town in the North of England to a big city in order to attend University. The city is renowned for its nightlife. She goes from living with her parents, who she has a very strong relationship with, to moving into University halls with five females who were all the same age. Her parents practice teetotalism and have since she was born. Sarah is anxious about joining student life as she has never been interested in the social convention of drinking alcohol and the party lifestyle that is associated with being a student. She instead enjoys other things such as reading, watching films and shopping.