The dominant trend in smoking prevalence in most Western countries is its increasing association with lower socioeconomic positions, making it a major factor behind inequalities in health. This paper focuses on the reasoning behind smoking, as well as on its social significance among middle-class and workingclass smokers. The data consist of 55 semi-structured interviews with daily smokers, ex-smokers and occasional smokers from different occupational backgrounds. The analysis revealed considerable differences in the ways of accounting for smoking, relating to the respondents' occupational backgrounds. Contrary to expectations, non-manual workers tended to consider their smoking functional, pleasurable and controlled, whereas the opposite was the case with the manual workers. Despite the high prevalence of smoking in that group, they were least willing to justify or rationalise their behaviour, whereas the agenda of middle-class smokers could be interpreted as the reconciliation of middle-class habitus with a risky, working-class habit.

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Aim This article compares adolescents' images of alcoholism in two different drinking geographies, namely Helsinki (Finland) and Turin (Italy), with the aim to better understand the persisting variance in youth drinking within Europe. Design Altogether 28 focus group interviews were conducted at schools among 15-year-old pupils (N=145). To assure reliable qualitative comparison across language boundaries, we applied a structured qualitative focus-group methodology called the Reception Analytical Group Interview (RAGI). Conclusions Collectivist images of alcoholism can be considered more protective in terms of alcohol-related risk behaviour as they 1) emphasise interpersonal responsibility, 2) enhance the value of norms and traditions, and 3) highlight causes of alcoholism which are beyond the control of the individual (that is, contextual, social and inherent in the substance), making the attitude towards alcohol more cautious. A greater emphasis on the individual competence may correspondingly result in a lower perception about the risks of drinking.

The forum works as a platform for harm reduction inspired exchange of knowledge. However, the user community's knowledge sharing practices can generate a shared perception of a sufficient or even superior drug use experience and knowledge. This may lead to overdoses and other risky behaviour, and thereby contribute to increased harms related to non-medical use of prescription drugs.

Critical discussions on the focus group method have highlighted the importance of considering the forms of interaction generated in groups. In this empirical paper we argue that these forms of interaction are intimately linked to the ways participants interpret the study setting, and these interpretations are likely to differ significantly depending on participants’ social backgrounds. In the light of our data consisting of 18 focus groups with 15-year-old school pupils from both affluent and deprived neighbourhoods of Helsinki discussing film clips about young people drinking alcohol, we ask what kinds of modes of participation are mobilised in focus group discussions in order to mark the social position of participants. We further analyse these modes in relation to situated identity performances, arguing that contextual factors of the study setting become especially important to consider when researching vulnerable groups and heterogeneous populations. The analysis yields three modes of participation: these are active/engaged, resistant/passive and dominant/transformative. We argue that these modes can be viewed as actively taken positions that reveal what kinds of identities and competences participants are able and willing to mobilise in the study setting, and that recognising these modes is important in all interview settings.

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A massive amount of research has brought out the association of daily smoking with social class. Smoking remains very common in the most disadvantaged groups, but it has also maintained its popularity among manual workers. The starting point of the article is that what needs to be taken into account in explaining the social differentiation of smoking is the social context in which smoking takes place. The study is based on interviews of daily smokers, ex-smokers and occasional smokers from different occupational backgrounds. In this article, the focus is on manual workers (N = 19), and the main interest is in the meaning of smoking in working-class contexts and how it is attached to daily routines and social settings in manual work. Theoretically, the study draws on the pragmatist idea of habits and how they are formed in accordance with the context. As a shared ritual, smoking was a self-evident part of daily routines at the workplaces under scrutiny. The study shows how smoking was a legitimate way to challenge the official rules and to make the work more bearable by increasing social contacts and a sense of belonging. Paradoxically, smoking was to a great extent an unquestioned routine, but at the same time it increased the autonomy of the workers in terms of their daily tasks.