States of Intoxication

Regular price €52.99
A01=John O'Brien
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alcohol
Alcohol Industry
alcohol use
anthropology
Attention Deficit Disorder
Author_John O'Brien
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Bronze Age Northern Europe
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civilisation
civilization
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Contemporary Societies
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De-civilising Process
Decivilising Process
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drinking culture
Drinking Cultures
Drinking Establishments
Drinking Occasions
Drinking Rituals
Drunken Comportment
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fear
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Good Life
historical sociology
history
Illicit Distillation
intoxication
John O'Brien
Language_English
Mimetic Desire
Monopoly Mechanism
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Permanent Liminality
perspectives
political communities
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Public Administration
revenue
ritual
ruling groups
sacred
Sacrificial Mechanism
Small Scale Societies
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Soviet State Formation
state formation
states
unproblematic
USA’s Experiment
Vodka Monopoly
West
Young Men

Product details

  • ISBN 9780367821135
  • Weight: 453g
  • Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
  • Publication Date: 17 Oct 2019
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
  • Language: English
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This book provides an illuminating perspective on alcohol use, drawing on approaches from both anthropological research and historical sociology to examine our ambivalent attitudes to alcohol in the modern West. From anthropological research on non-Western, non-modern cultures, the author demonstrates that the use of alcohol or other psychoactive substances is a universal across human societies, and indeed, has tended to be seen as unproblematic, or even a sacred aspect of culture, often used in a highly ritualised context. From historical sociology, it is shown that alcohol has also been central to the process of state formation, not only as a crucial source of revenue, but also through having an important role in the formation of political communities, which frequently are a source of existential fear for ruling groups. Tracing this contradictory position occupied by alcohol over the course of history and civilisation, States of Intoxication sheds light on the manner in which it has produced the very peculiar modern perspective on alcohol.

John O’Brien is a Lecturer in Sociology at Waterford Institute of Technology.