This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone

301 Pages·2010·4.51 MB·English

by  Will Haydock

Gender, Class and ‘Binge’ Drinking:
An ethnography of drinkers in
Bournemouth’s night-time economy

William Haydock

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy

Bournemouth University

September 2009
This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who
consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and
due acknowledgement must always be made of the use of any material
contained in, or derived from, this thesis.

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Gender, Class and ‘Binge’ Drinking: An ethnography of drinkers in
Bournemouth’s night-time economy
William Haydock
In early 21st-century Britain there is a focus by media, government and
academia on young people’s consumption of alcohol – often using the term
‘binge’ drinking – and how this should be understood and regulated. This thesis
argues that contemporary forms of alcohol regulation can be seen as part of a
broader neo-liberal mentality of government, encompassing the creation of a
classed and gendered figure of the self-disciplined, responsible, ideal citizen.
This ethnographic study of the night-time economy in Bournemouth, a town on
the south coast of England, considers how young people’s drinking practices
and discussions relate to these discourses to constitute gender and class. The
location and analytical focus of the study complement previous research, which
has tended to be based in formerly industrial cities and has either emphasised
similarities amongst young people or focused on how drinking practices reflect
people’s gender and class backgrounds. Interviews were conducted with 20
professionals alongside 45 hours of participant observation resulting in
interactions with 113 drinkers. Drawing on the work of Butler and Bourdieu, this
study conceives of gender and class as norms that structure people’s
perceptions of the world and possibilities within it; drinking practices and
understandings are both part of these structures and also actions that lead to
individuals being consequently classified. Young people’s various ‘drinking
styles’ can be arranged on a continuum from the everyday to the carnivalesque.
The everyday style draws on the figure of the responsible individual noted in
government discourses and oppositional figures such as the ‘chav’, which
distance the speaker from problematic ‘binge’ drinking in class terms. Other
participants labelled such views ‘stuck up’, as part of a symbolic struggle. In
terms of gender, themes of safekeeping interacted with these discourses, as
certain practices were considered unfeminine and not ‘classy’, for example.
The thesis argues that, as well as reflecting class and gender, these styles can
be seen as discursive resources that authorise accounts of drinking, constituting
symbolic capital and therefore class and gender. It is thus argued that the
night-time economy is a key site for the formation of class and gender in
contemporary British society.
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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................8
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................9
BINGE BRITAIN............................................................................................................................9
THE ROLE OF THIS STUDY..........................................................................................................19
THESIS STRUCTURE..................................................................................................................24
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................27
ACADEMIC LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................28
BOURNEMOUTH.........................................................................................................................43
THEORETICAL APPROACH..........................................................................................................49
Gender................................................................................................................................49
Class...................................................................................................................................52
Theories of the Carnival and Distinction............................................................................64
RESEARCH AIMS AND QUESTIONS..............................................................................................71
CHAPTER 2 DRINKING RESPONSIBLY: GOVERNMENT, MEDIA AND MORALITY...........75
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................75
THEORIES OF NEO-LIBERALISM, GOVERNMENTALITY AND THE SELF............................................75
LIBERALISATION?......................................................................................................................81
CARE FOR THE SELF.................................................................................................................86
EMBARRASSING AND IMMORAL ACTIONS.....................................................................................97
GENDERED AND CLASSED MORALITY.......................................................................................112
‘EVERYONE’S RESPONSIBILITY’................................................................................................115
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................123
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY...............................................................................................126
OVERVIEW OF METHODS USED................................................................................................126
THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS...................................................................................................128
METHODS, PROCESS AND DEVELOPMENT................................................................................135
Initial Observations...........................................................................................................135
Participant Observation....................................................................................................137
Individual and Group Interviews.......................................................................................140
DATA ANALYSIS......................................................................................................................142
ETHICS...................................................................................................................................146
VALIDITY.................................................................................................................................151
REFLEXIVITY...........................................................................................................................153
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................158
CHAPTER 4: BACKGROUND OF PARTICIPANTS...............................................................159
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INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................159
GENERAL BACKGROUND DATA AND SIMILARITIES.....................................................................159
NEGOTIATING CAPITAL............................................................................................................166
Samir................................................................................................................................166
Jane..................................................................................................................................169
Natasha............................................................................................................................170
Dawn................................................................................................................................171
Christina...........................................................................................................................172
Frank and Simon..............................................................................................................173
James...............................................................................................................................176
Joey..................................................................................................................................178
Lisa...................................................................................................................................180
Social Capital....................................................................................................................182
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................183
CHAPTER 5: DRINKING STYLES...........................................................................................185
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................185
DRINKING STYLES...................................................................................................................187
THE CARNIVALESQUE..............................................................................................................192
Unusual behaviour and funny stories...............................................................................192
Drinking to get drunk........................................................................................................196
Social Interaction..............................................................................................................198
‘A Different Environment’..................................................................................................200
The carnivalesque and the media....................................................................................204
MISRECOGNITION AND THE EVERYDAY.....................................................................................206
Individualism and Distinction............................................................................................207
Drinking to some purpose................................................................................................214
‘Chavs’ and Door Policies................................................................................................221
Violence and Sexuality.....................................................................................................224
A place to ‘sit and chat’....................................................................................................227
‘Chavs’ and Students.......................................................................................................229
THE ANTI-PRETENSION CRITIQUE..............................................................................................233
MANAGING DRUNKENNESS AND GENDER.................................................................................236
Fear and Sexuality............................................................................................................239
Shame and Embarrassment.............................................................................................241
Strategies for Managing Drunkenness.............................................................................245
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................250
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................253
APPENDIX 1: TRANSCRIPTION STYLE................................................................................265
APPENDIX 2: ANONYMISATION OF VENUES......................................................................266
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APPENDIX 3: RECRUITMENT FLYER...................................................................................267
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................268

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List of Tables and Illustrations
Figure 1: Binge Britain's Night of Shame..........................................................10
Figure 2: New Year Mayhem............................................................................10
Figure 3: Proportion of Population aged 65 or over, Bournemouth 1851-2001.45
Figure 4: Proportion of population aged 65 or over...........................................45
Figure 5: Jobs in Bournemouth by Sector, 1999...............................................49
Figure 6: Jobs in Bournemouth by Sector, 2007...............................................49
Figure 7: 3 Unit Glass of Wine Poster...............................................................87
Figure 8: 3 Unit Pint of Lager Poster.................................................................88
Figure 9: ‘Would You?’ River Poster.................................................................91
Figure 10: 'Would You?' Risk Poster.................................................................94
Figure 11: TfL Minicab Poster 2005..................................................................95
Figure 12: ‘Would You?’ Gutter Poster ...........................................................100
Figure 13: Blackpool Beer Mat Front..............................................................101
Figure 14: Blackpool Beer Mat Reverse .........................................................102
Figure 15: Fancy Dress at Bar:[ME]................................................................204
Figure 16: Illustration from Jeffries (2007) ......................................................211
Figure 17: Students’ Union Bournemouth University Chav Ball poster November
2008................................................................................................................231

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Acknowledgements
I would not have been able to produce this thesis without the solid yet sensitive
support of my supervisors Rosie Read and Immy Holloway. They have been
tremendously generous with their time and energy. I am grateful for the
significant financial support of Bournemouth University, not only in providing me
with a bursary but also covering the costs of my book purchases and
attendance at numerous conferences. I would also like to thank those working
in similar fields to my own who have offered me guidance, including (but not
limited to) Ben Baumberg, Christine Griffin, David Jarratt, Bob Jeffery, Jason
Pelplinski, Bill Suthers, Peter Thomas, Martin Whiteford and Gary Winter. I
must thank all my friends and family for their help and support, particularly my
parents for their unstinting encouragement and understanding. I should also
pay tribute to all those involved with Walker Scott and Ferndown Forest football
clubs – you have kept me sane and also helped develop my understanding of
drinking. My greatest thanks, though, must go to Mary Lester, who for three
years (and more) has put up with all my faults, often with not enough thanks,
and has constantly provided invaluable academic insight and criticism. Finally, I
would like to thank all those who participated in this research. Without them, I
would quite simply have no thesis.
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Introduction
Binge Britain
In Britain in the early 21st century, there is a focus by media, government and
academia on alcohol and its regulation. There is a generally accepted
understanding that alcohol consumption, in particular amongst young people, is
a problem in Britain.

This discourse is most obvious in media discussions of drinking. For example,
the Daily Mail (2008a) describes ‘Victims of Binge Britain’ and writes about the
‘shame of binge drink Britons’ who get drunk abroad and are arrested (Massey
2008). British society is generally understood to be ‘a culture that celebrates
getting drunk’ (The Independent on Sunday 2008). Each new year is marked
by a flurry of newspaper articles including front pages covering ‘Binge Britain’s
Night of Shame’, as in Figure 1 (Daily Express 2008a), and ‘Boozy Britain’s
bloody New Year’ (Sears 2009), telling the reader, ‘New Year and it’s a bloody
hangover’ (Chapman 2009), for example, and detailing violent and shocking
incidents relating to alcohol consumption. Such concern is not confined to the
national press. In Bournemouth, the Daily Echo has exclaimed on its front page
and billboards: ‘Drinking epidemic hits wards’ (John 2008), and reported of the
town centre in the evenings: ‘It’s a war zone out there’ (Daily Echo 2005b).
Again this is linked to the idea of a particular drinking culture, as when the Daily
Echo reported on alcohol-related admissions to Poole and Bournemouth
hospitals as illustrating the ‘Shocking toll of alcohol culture’ (Codd 2008a).
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Figure 1: Binge Britain's Night of Shame
Source: Daily Express (Daily Express 2008a)

Figure 2: New Year Mayhem
Source: Stote and Twomey (2008)
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