Understanding English alcohol policy as a neoliberal condemnation of the carnivalesque

Abstract

Much academic work has argued that alcohol policy in England over the past 25 years can be characterised as neoliberal, particularly in regard to the night-time economy and attempts to address “binge” drinking. Understanding neoliberalism as a particular “mentality of government” that circumscribes the range of policy options considered appropriate and practical for a government to take, this article notes how the particular application of policy can vary by local context. This article argues that the approach of successive governments in relation to alcohol should be seen as based on a fear and condemnation of the carnivalesque, understood as a time when everyday norms and conventions are set aside, and the world is – for a limited period only – turned inside out. This analysis is contrasted with previous interpretations that have characterised government as condemning intoxication and particular forms of pleasure taken in drinking. Although these concepts are useful in such analysis, this article suggests that government concerns are broader and relate to wider cultures surrounding drunkenness. Moreover, there is an ambivalence to policy in relation to alcohol that is better conveyed by the concept of the carnivalesque than imagining simply a condemnation of pleasure or intoxication.

Transgressive drinking practices and the subversion of proscriptive alcohol policy messages

“…Data sets were gathered between 2004 and 2007 and remain salient as expressions of drinking practices that, while not representative of all harmful drinking, nonetheless remain current practices amongst certain groups (Brown & Gregg, 2012: Brown, 2013: Hutton & Wright, 2015: Haydock, 2014). An initial phase explored the alcohol marketing landscape with an analysis of the ways in which drink and drinkers were represented in 216 print, broadcast and outdoor advertisements for different types of drinks.…”

“…Hackley, Bengry-Howell, Griffin, Mistral, Szmigin & Hackley 2013;Hubbard, 2013) in the sense that alcohol, in large quantities, acts to release drinkers from the restrictions of convention (and from neoliberal self-control) in a carnival of transgression, of bodies, places and social roles. Haydock (2014), referring to English alcohol policy as a specific case, suggests that government anti-drinking campaigns over the past 20 years can be understood in terms of a neo-liberal mentality that seeks to control and suppress the carnivalesque. There is tension between state control of drinking, which generates profits, tax revenue and employment, and particular drinking practices.…”

“…Spectacular images of consumption, including officially-sanctioned commercial and governmentsponsored alcohol messages, are constitutive of consumer behaviours around alcohol. Canivalesque (Haydock, 2014) practices can be seen as transgressions of official discourses of sensible and controlled public behaviour. Coverley (2006) suggests that the neo-Marxist revolutionary politics of Debord (1967) and the literary trajectory of psychogeography meet in the work of J. G. Ballard (2004)).…”

“…Health policies form part of the constitution of drug and alcohol problems (Moore & Measham, 2012). Under neo-liberal alcohol policy (Haydock, 2014) government campaigns ostensibly seek to control un-sanctioned, carnivalesque drinking practices that potentially subvert official rules and controls. Proscriptive messages can unwittingly provide discursive material to support sub-cultural or counter-cultural identity positions.…”

UK substance use policy research should think local

“…The definition of a problem -intoxication or harm, for example -can plausibly be identified through documents and interviews, as can the ideology circumscribing proposed solutions. To take an example from my own work, it could be argued on the basis of public statements that English alcohol policy is shaped by discomfort with the carnivalesque, within a neoliberal framework of action (Haydock 2015).…”