Friday, 18 July, 2025
The Drinks Business, James Bayley
A global study of 186 traditional societies has found evidence supporting the theory that low-alcohol fermented beverages played a role in the evolution of political complexity. The research, published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, used advanced causal inference techniques to show that cultures with indigenous alcoholic drinks were more likely to develop hierarchical political systems with multiple layers of governance.
According to the study’s authors Václav Hrnčíř, Angela M. Chira and Russell D. Gray, alcohol’s social properties – bonding, trust-building and creativity – may have helped groups cohere, cooperate and consolidate power. “Drinking together makes people feel part of a collective,” the authors argue, “and this collective sense is critical when societies transition from localised kin-based groups to multi-tiered political entities.”
Agriculture trumps alcohol – but not entirely
While the findings lend support to the so-called “drunk hypothesis” – the idea that alcohol has helped humans live in large, cooperative groups – the researchers are careful to point out that alcohol alone cannot explain the emergence of complex societies.
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