For thousands of years, people in many parts of the world have used mildly alcoholic fermented beverages such as beer and wine, and for the last several hundred years Europeans, European migrants to North America, and their descendants have consumed vast quantities of much more potent distilled beverages such as gin, rum, and whiskey. This long history has meant that alcohol has become integrated into American culture. The substance has been widely used to bond friendship, pursue sexual desires, seal political or business bargains, and signify manhood. In American culture, drinking has frequently been associated with masculinity and violence. Technically, alcohol reduces inhibitions, and its use enables people to engage in behavior that might otherwise be socially or legally proscribed or discouraged. Thus, alcohol has frequently been introduced to relieve anxiety in stressful situations or to break down social or psychological barriers. Alcohol has thus functioned as society’s principal recreational drug.
Alcohol, however, poses significant social problems. First, a small but significant percentage of drinkers become addicted to alcohol in such a way that they consume increasing quantities over time, and this heavy drinking threatens family life, jobs, and health. Second, other drinkers, while not addicted, neglect home and work through too great a devotion to drink. Third, alcohol’s reduction of inhibitions leads some drinkers to engage in acts that are not socially sanctioned. Some become violent, and prisons hold many people who committed crimes while under the influence of alcohol. These criminals often have no memory of their drunken behavior.
Throughout American history, alcohol has been recognized as dangerous, and cities have banned or regulated its sale and use. Colonial towns, following English precedent, licensed taverns. Boston sellers had to prove respectability by belonging to the established church. Furthermore, visits to drinking houses were monitored. One preacher watched those who entered from his study window, and if anyone stayed more than an hour, he would escort the drinker home. Reputable women did not drink in public houses unless they were staying overnight at the inn as a traveler.
In the nineteenth century, antiliquor forces often tried to restrict either the number of licenses or the hours of operation. By 1850, most American cities had banned alcohol sales on Sunday. Some cities limited saloons to certain locations, and in the twentieth century many wet cities were surrounded by legally dry suburbs. Indeed, many towns were incorporated specifically to keep out alcohol. As city zoning became common in the twentieth century, restrictions on outlets grew. Most cities did not allow the sale of alcohol near schools or churches. After 1933, most states restricted the number of licenses available, controlled locations and hours, and set a legal drinking age of 21.
Despite attempts at prohibition and restriction, alcohol has continued to appeal to Americans. Consumption was heavy in the colonial period, and drinking increased during the generation following the American Revolution. The settlement of the Midwest corn belt produced much cheap whiskey, as little as 5 cents a fifth, and by 1820 consumption of hard liquor was about five gallons per person per year. Women, children, and slaves consumed little, while the typical adult white male drank about half a pint of whiskey a day. They seldom got drunk, however, but sipped whiskey continually throughout the day.
After 1830, consumption fell, and patterns of use changed. Because factory machinery was expensive and dangerous, owners banned alcohol both from the workplace, where it had been traditional, and from workers’ private lives after hours. A drunken stagecoach driver’s horses could find their way home, but a drunken steamboat captain risked sinking the ship. As drinking shifted away from the workplace, alcohol became associated with recreation or unemployment. For the first time, binge drinking became common in America.
The nineteenth-century temperance movement made intoxicating beverages less respectable. About half of all Americans gave up alcohol, which lessened the role of drinking as a way of building community. Drinkers, however, continued to enjoy each other’s company, especially in the family-oriented beer gardens that German immigrants built on the edge of major cities. After the Civil War, urban immigrants who had recently arrived from hard-drinking countries in Europe contributed to rising consumption, which increasingly consisted of lightly taxed beer.
Alcohol use declined by half or more again between 1920 and 1933 when the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandated Prohibition and forbade the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States. Many Americans who reached adulthood during the dry years never drank at all, but young people in the 1930s were drawn to beer and mixed drinks. Liquor was glamorized in magazines such as Time, which broke the taboo against respectable publications advertising liquor, and in popular movies such as The Thin Man (1934). Consumption rose during the 1930s and increased more rapidly during World War II, although the use of alcohol for military purposes led to shortages of hard liquor.
Since 1933 alcohol abuse has been increasingly considered a disease. This disease model has replaced the older moral view that prohibitionists stressed, and as a result much money has been spent on research and treatment. By the 1980s, treatment programs often combined psychosocial therapies with a drug regime in order to take into account the whole person. Alcoholics Anonymous, while founded on other bases, has adopted a similar outlook.
Consumption of alcohol slowly increased after World War II. Alcohol consumption often rises during prosperity, just as use is heaviest among the wealthiest segments of the population (doctors and lawyers drink heavily, as reducing stress is a major concern in both professions). In the postwar years beer sales continued strong with growing home consumption in bottles and, later, aluminum cans. Brewers shrewdly took advantage of television to identify their product with athletic success. Wine consumption also rose due to vigorous marketing and a growing sophistication about wine. Hard liquor, in contrast, enjoyed little growth, as drinkers switched from whiskey to the so-called white beverages of vodka, gin, and light rum. In the 1970s, many states lowered the legal drinking age, allowed more liquor advertising, and otherwise reduced controls. By 1975, per capita alcohol consumption had reached levels not seen since before Prohibition, although the rate of use was only one-third that of its peak in the early 1800s.
Since 1975, alcohol consumption has declined. The most important reason is demographic. Use is always heaviest among persons in their twenties, and the numerous baby boomers have now aged. Changing attitudes about alcohol, however, have also played a role. Concerns about fetal alcohol syndrome have led many women to abstain, while the high percentage of fatal automobile accidents that involve alcohol (ranging up to half) has produced a public campaign against driving after drinking. Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD) was largely responsible for a federal law that pressured states to adopt a legal drinking age of 21 in the mid-eighties.
In recent years neoprohibitionists have tried to reduce consumption by restricting advertising, raising liquor taxes, and reducing the number of licensed outlets. They have also sought to make sellers liable for damages caused by drunken patrons, to include alcohol in antidrug programs in schools, to use police roadblocks for random alcohol checks, to lower the amount of alcohol in the legal definition of drunkenness, and to link alcohol abuse by men with concerns about women’s and children’s rights and safety. Despite these attempts at restriction, alcohol continues to play a prominent role in American culture
Alcohol, however, poses significant social problems. First, a small but significant percentage of drinkers become addicted to alcohol in such a way that they consume increasing quantities over time, and this heavy drinking threatens family life, jobs, and health. Second, other drinkers, while not addicted, neglect home and work through too great a devotion to drink. Third, alcohol’s reduction of inhibitions leads some drinkers to engage in acts that are not socially sanctioned. Some become violent, and prisons hold many people who committed crimes while under the influence of alcohol. These criminals often have no memory of their drunken behavior.
Throughout American history, alcohol has been recognized as dangerous, and cities have banned or regulated its sale and use. Colonial towns, following English precedent, licensed taverns. Boston sellers had to prove respectability by belonging to the established church. Furthermore, visits to drinking houses were monitored. One preacher watched those who entered from his study window, and if anyone stayed more than an hour, he would escort the drinker home. Reputable women did not drink in public houses unless they were staying overnight at the inn as a traveler.
In the nineteenth century, antiliquor forces often tried to restrict either the number of licenses or the hours of operation. By 1850, most American cities had banned alcohol sales on Sunday. Some cities limited saloons to certain locations, and in the twentieth century many wet cities were surrounded by legally dry suburbs. Indeed, many towns were incorporated specifically to keep out alcohol. As city zoning became common in the twentieth century, restrictions on outlets grew. Most cities did not allow the sale of alcohol near schools or churches. After 1933, most states restricted the number of licenses available, controlled locations and hours, and set a legal drinking age of 21.
Despite attempts at prohibition and restriction, alcohol has continued to appeal to Americans. Consumption was heavy in the colonial period, and drinking increased during the generation following the American Revolution. The settlement of the Midwest corn belt produced much cheap whiskey, as little as 5 cents a fifth, and by 1820 consumption of hard liquor was about five gallons per person per year. Women, children, and slaves consumed little, while the typical adult white male drank about half a pint of whiskey a day. They seldom got drunk, however, but sipped whiskey continually throughout the day.
After 1830, consumption fell, and patterns of use changed. Because factory machinery was expensive and dangerous, owners banned alcohol both from the workplace, where it had been traditional, and from workers’ private lives after hours. A drunken stagecoach driver’s horses could find their way home, but a drunken steamboat captain risked sinking the ship. As drinking shifted away from the workplace, alcohol became associated with recreation or unemployment. For the first time, binge drinking became common in America.
The nineteenth-century temperance movement made intoxicating beverages less respectable. About half of all Americans gave up alcohol, which lessened the role of drinking as a way of building community. Drinkers, however, continued to enjoy each other’s company, especially in the family-oriented beer gardens that German immigrants built on the edge of major cities. After the Civil War, urban immigrants who had recently arrived from hard-drinking countries in Europe contributed to rising consumption, which increasingly consisted of lightly taxed beer.
Alcohol use declined by half or more again between 1920 and 1933 when the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandated Prohibition and forbade the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States. Many Americans who reached adulthood during the dry years never drank at all, but young people in the 1930s were drawn to beer and mixed drinks. Liquor was glamorized in magazines such as Time, which broke the taboo against respectable publications advertising liquor, and in popular movies such as The Thin Man (1934). Consumption rose during the 1930s and increased more rapidly during World War II, although the use of alcohol for military purposes led to shortages of hard liquor.
Since 1933 alcohol abuse has been increasingly considered a disease. This disease model has replaced the older moral view that prohibitionists stressed, and as a result much money has been spent on research and treatment. By the 1980s, treatment programs often combined psychosocial therapies with a drug regime in order to take into account the whole person. Alcoholics Anonymous, while founded on other bases, has adopted a similar outlook.
Consumption of alcohol slowly increased after World War II. Alcohol consumption often rises during prosperity, just as use is heaviest among the wealthiest segments of the population (doctors and lawyers drink heavily, as reducing stress is a major concern in both professions). In the postwar years beer sales continued strong with growing home consumption in bottles and, later, aluminum cans. Brewers shrewdly took advantage of television to identify their product with athletic success. Wine consumption also rose due to vigorous marketing and a growing sophistication about wine. Hard liquor, in contrast, enjoyed little growth, as drinkers switched from whiskey to the so-called white beverages of vodka, gin, and light rum. In the 1970s, many states lowered the legal drinking age, allowed more liquor advertising, and otherwise reduced controls. By 1975, per capita alcohol consumption had reached levels not seen since before Prohibition, although the rate of use was only one-third that of its peak in the early 1800s.
Since 1975, alcohol consumption has declined. The most important reason is demographic. Use is always heaviest among persons in their twenties, and the numerous baby boomers have now aged. Changing attitudes about alcohol, however, have also played a role. Concerns about fetal alcohol syndrome have led many women to abstain, while the high percentage of fatal automobile accidents that involve alcohol (ranging up to half) has produced a public campaign against driving after drinking. Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD) was largely responsible for a federal law that pressured states to adopt a legal drinking age of 21 in the mid-eighties.
In recent years neoprohibitionists have tried to reduce consumption by restricting advertising, raising liquor taxes, and reducing the number of licensed outlets. They have also sought to make sellers liable for damages caused by drunken patrons, to include alcohol in antidrug programs in schools, to use police roadblocks for random alcohol checks, to lower the amount of alcohol in the legal definition of drunkenness, and to link alcohol abuse by men with concerns about women’s and children’s rights and safety. Despite these attempts at restriction, alcohol continues to play a prominent role in American culture