Few questions have gripped the wine industry more than the question of why young people are drinking less.
Is wine outdated? Too full of obscure rituals? Not innovative enough?
Now it’s not just wine – beer, spirits, and even financial institutions are asking what’s happening with young people. And so are public health academics.
In late April, an international group of academics published a book called Young People, Alcohol, and Risk: A Culture of Caution by Amy Pennay et al.
It’s a weighty tome that looks at young people and why they’re drinking less from a sociological point of view.
It’s tough going
There’s no nice way of saying it: this book is a slog. I’ve read it twice now, and it was an effort both times.
Part of what makes it such a difficult read is because it’s a good faith attempt to understand a complex global phenomenon and the authors are careful not to overstep the evidence – of which there is plenty, some of which is contradictory.
And also, alas, because this bunch are not wordsmiths. I know editorial budgets are tight, but there’s no excuse for this linguistic barbarity:
“Moreover, young women can use clubs and bars as places to territorialise for themselves a space of privacy in which they feel confident of doing tipsy or drunken femininities.”
Then there’s the fact that the authors are heavily ideological, pinning everything on ‘neoliberalism’ and ‘late-stage capitalism’ in a way that doesn’t mean anything.
Click HERE to read the full article.