The Trouble with Drinking: Alcohol, Health and the Regulation of Life

Alcohol is everywhere―in our everyday lives, in public debates and, increasingly, at the centre of public health policy.

This book critically examines alcohol as a contemporary research and policy object. It argues that drinking is governed through heavily freighted concepts such as risk, wellbeing, gender and race. The authors interrogate dominant disciplinary sobriety and moderation frameworks, highlighting the overlooked aspects of sociability, pleasure and self-transformation.

In scrutinizing the intensifying public health spotlight on alcohol, the authors issue a call to rethink what it means to live “well” in an era when health is both a personal imperative and a regulatory discourse.

Helen Keane is Professor of Sociology at the Australian National University.

David Moore is Honorary Professor of Sociology at The Australian National University.

Mats Ekendahl is Professor of Social Work at Stockholm University.