Alcohol and Culture

Author(s): David G. Mandelbaum

Source: Current Anthropology, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Jun., 1965), pp. 281-288+289-293
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for
Anthropological Research

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Alcoholand Culture
byDavid G. Mandelbaum

in his society,what does his

fordrinking
thatmenhave definitionsARE A GREAT MANY substances
drinking
behaviortellus abouthis perlearnedto ingestin orderto getspecialbodilysensa- characteristic
thereis
tions.' Of themall, alcohol is culturallythe most sonality?Withinmostculturalprescriptions
But
importantby far. It was ancientlythe mo,stwide- leewayfor individualchoiceand manipulation.
of
spreadin use,themostwidelyvalued as a ritualand beforewe can learnmuchabouttheconfiguration
we
activities,
froma person'sdrinking
themostdeeplyembeddedin diverse hispersonality
societalartifact,
cultures.Tribal peoplesof all themajorpartsof the must understandwhat choices about drinkingare
cultural
world (save Oceania and. most of North America) possiblein his culture.These encompassing
interest factorsare notoftenmadeclearin studiesof drinking
knewalcoholicdrink;it was of considerable
on drinking
in mostof themfrom behaviorand figurelittlein theliterature
in the principalcivilizations,
onward.In somelanguages,as pathology.
theirearlybeginnings
in English,the veryterm"drink"takeson the conCULTURAL VARIATIONS IN THE USE OF ALCOHOL
alcoholicliquids.
notationof drinking
Wherealcohol is known,patternsfor its use and
usuallyin fine detail. Culturalpracticesin drinkingrangefromavid imfor abstentionare prescribed,
know this
if
any, societieswhose mersionto totalrejection.Anthropologists
few,
very
been
have
There
of use
social
the
problems
who
study
but
those
well,
people knew the use of alcohol and yet paid little
fact
into
account.
this
take
always
of
do
not
alcohol
attentionto it. Alcohol may be tabooed; it is not
Even a briefmentionof the varied social functions
ignored.
of
culturalexpressions
alcohol and the different
In manysocieties,drinkingbehavioris considered of
of
central
importance
the
points
up
functions
these
forthewholesocialorder,and so drinking viewingtheact of drinking
important
cultural
of
a
as
larger
part
is definedand limitedin accordancewithfundamental configuration.
Alcoholis a culturalartifact;theform
motifsof the culture.Hence it is usefulto ask what and meanings
of
alcoholicbeveragesare culdrinking
group
of drinkin a particular
theformand meanings
uses of any othermajor
as
are
the
defined,
turally
tell us about theirentirecultureand society.In a artifact.
stipulatefd,
is
explicitly
quite
The
form
usually
madeup of manysubgroups, includingthe kind of drinkthat
complexmodernsociety,
can
be
used, the
patternsof each subgroupor class may amountand rate of intake,the time and place of
the drinking
as well as thecultural
reflectitsspecialcharacteristics
ritual,thesex and age of
theaccompanying
drinking,
frameof thewholesociety.
and the
in drinking,
the
the
roles
involved
drinker,
The samekindof questioncan be askedaboutthe role behaviorproperto drinking.The meaningsof
of an individual.Giventhecultural drinking,
patterns
drinking
its relationto otheraspectsof the culture
and society,are usuallymoreimplicit.Thus drinking
in a particularsocietymay be eithera sacredor a
DAVID G. MANDELBAUM is Professorof Anthropologyat the
and thepeople
on thecontext,
profaneact,depending
Universityof California, Berkeley,and Curator of Ethnology
in the Lowie Museum. He received the Ph.D. fromYale Uniand meanings
maynotbe awareof thebasicprinciples
versity,taught at the Universityof Minnesota, and, after war
thatareactuallyinvolved.Thesemaybecomeapparent
service,came to the Universityof California in 1946. He has
onlyafterstudieshave beenmadeof the contextsof
been a researchassociate of the AmericanMuseum of Natural
drinking
and thebehaviorof drinkers.
Historyand has been a Fellow of the Laboratoryof Anthropology, National Research Council, Carnegie Foundation,
At the extremes
of the rangeof culturalpractice
GuggenheimFoundation,and the Center for Advanced Studies
themeanings
clear.For example,among
are relatively
in the Behavioral Sciences. During 1963-64 he was Senior
the
"peoplemake,drink,
of
northern
Nigeria,
Kofyar
Fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies in New
talk, and thinkabout beer." In the religioussphere,
D-elhi. He was director of the National Science Foundation
project on the teaching of anthropologyin higher education.
"the Kofyarcertainly
believethatman'sway to god
He has served on the United -StatesNational Commissionfor
is withbeerin hand" (Netting1963:1-5).
Unesco and was chairmanof its Social Sciences Committee.
In contrastwiththosewho consideralcoholto be
Mandelbaum's fieldwork was begun with two American
essentialand blessedare thepeople who regardit as
Indian peoples, the San Carlos Apache and the Plains Cree. In
THERE

India, his principal field studies have been among the Kotas
of the Nilgiri Hills and in villages in several parts of India.
His papers and monographscover a range of interests,including
general social theoryand contemporary
applications.
The present article, submittedto CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY
20 vii 63, was sent for CA* treatmentto 27 scholarsof whom
the followingrespondedwith writtencomments:Vera S. Erlich,
Khwaja A. Hasan, Dwight B. Heath, John J. Honigmann,
Edwin M. Lemert,and William Madsen. The commentswritten
for publication are printed in full after the author's text and
are followed by a reply fromthe author.

Vol. 6

No. 3

A preliminary
versionof thispaper was presentedat a conference
arranged by the Cooperative Commission on the Study of Alcoholism, Institute for the Study of Human Problems, Stanford
University.The author thanksthe Instituteand its scientificdirector, Dr. Nevitt Sanford,for assistance in the work of this paper
and particularlyfor the able help of Mr. Henry Selby, a member
of the Institutestaff.Bibliographicassistancewas also given most
competentlyby Mr. Paul Hockings,whose work was supportedby
a grant from the Research Committeeof the Universityof California,Berkeley.

June 1965

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

281

destructiveand dispensable.The Hopi and othe: (Berreman 1956:507). In other societies a man must
Pueblo Indian tribesof the AmericanSouthwestfell absorb a large amountof alcohol beforehe shows that
that drinkingthreatenedtheirway of life. The) the drink has affectedhim. So is it also with hangabhorred
theuseof alcoholso greatlythattheysuccess- overs and addiction; both are heavily influencedby
fullybannedit fromtheirsettlements
formanyyear culturalinterpretations.
A people who drinkas heavily
and as frequentlyas any groupyet known,the Camba
(Parsons1939:22-23;Benedict1959).
The rangeof religioususage is great.Amongthe of eastern Bolivia, attributeno ill effectsto their
at everymajorreli- drinkingotherthan the irritationcaused to the mouth
Aztecs,for example,worshipers
giousoccasionhad to get dead drunk,else the god. and throat by theirliquor, an undiluted distillateof
would be displeased(Thompson1940:68). In shari sugar cane that contains 89% ethyl alcohol.
Most Camba men participatein recurrentdrinking
whici
contrastare those Protestantdenominations
thatit i: bouts,which may last for a whole weekend.A drinker
hold thatalcoholis so repugnant
spiritually
in thecommunion
rite may pass out several times in the course of a bout
not allowedevensymbolically
(Cherrington
1924:2:669-670).Yet anothercontras and, upon reviving,drinkhimselfquicklyinto a stupor
is thatprovidedin India, wherea villagermaypout again. Dwight Heath, the anthropologistwho has
an alcoholiclibationin the worship-of one typeof studied Camba drinking,observes(1962:31): "Hangdeity(usuallyof the locality),while to do so at a overs and hallucinations are unknown among these
templeof one of the deitiesof the classicpantheor people, as is addiction to alcohol." In general,addicwould desecratetheplace and disgracetheworshiper tion to alcohol seems to be quite rare outside certain
Culturalexpectations
regulatethe emotionalcon- societiesof Westerncivilization.Among most peoples
sequencesof drink.Drinkingin one societymay whose men are expected to drink heavily and freof affection,as ir quently,a man does not do any solitarydrinkingnor
regularlyrelease demonstrations
commonamongJapanesemen;in anotherit may set does he have withdrawal symptomsif he cannot get
occursamong alcohol. He may not like to do withoutit, but he does
as frequently
off aggressivehostility,
Papago Indians(Joseph1949:76-77).AmongJapanese not feel grippedby an iron.compulsionto get a drink
drinkingis part of the fine ambienceof pleasant in order to be able to keep alive.2
The chemicaland physiologicalpropertiesof alcohol
timeand
physicalsensation-whendoneat the4proper
place-and so is quitedevoidof guiltor ambivalence. obviously provide a necessarybase for drinkingbeConversely,there are other people among whom havior; the same kinds of behavior are not socially
drinkingis oftenaccompaniedby a flow of guilt derived fromotherwidely used drugs,such as coffee,
tea, or tobacco. But the behavioral consequencesof
feeling.
alcohol depend as much on a people's idea
drinking
The act of drinking
can serveas a-symbolicpunc- of what alcohol
does to a person as they do on the
tuationmarkdifferentiating
one social contextfrom
that take place (cf. Washburne
physiological
processes
another(cf. Honigmann1963). The cocktailprepared 1961:267). When a man
liftsa -cup, it is not only the
hus- kind of
by the suburbanhousewifefor her commuting
drink that is in it, the amount he is likely
band whenhe returnsin the eveninghelps separate
thecityand itsworkfromthehomeand itsrelaxation. to take, and the circumstancesunder which he will
do the drinkingthat are-specifiedin advance for him,
In moreformalritual,but withsimilardistinguishingbut also whetherthe contentsof the cup will cheer
intent,an orthodoxJewrecitesthe Havdola blessing or stupefy,whether they will induce affection or
overwineand drinksthewineat theend of theSab- aggression,guilt or unalloyed pleasure. These and
bathto markthedivisionbetweenthesacredday and many
other
definitionsattach to the drink
the restof the week. Drinkingmay be quitepurely even beforeitcultural
touchesthe lips.
symbolic,as it is in the Havdola rite and in the
of communion,
sacrament
as
or it maybe substantive
ACROSS CULTURES
SIMILARITIES
well as symbolic,as in the heavy drinkingat Aztec
religiousceremonies.

Cultural variations in drinking practices are well

ness than to mellow conviviality,but among them

also a drinkerbecomesintoxicatedafterhe has taken
relatively small amounts of a fairly mild beverage

There is, however, a full descriptionof the behavior of an

addict in one of the ancient Aztec codices. It is given in a discussion of the astrologicalsign "under Which the Drunkardswere
Born" (Dibble and Anderson 1957:11-17).

are its dia- documented,but there has been little notice of simiAmongothersymbolicusesof drinking
criticalfunctions,
as whenone groupor class within laritiesin the use of alcohol across cultures.One such
a largersocietyfollowsdrinking
patternsthat serve regularityis that drinkingis usually consideredmore
as a badge markingthemoff fromothers.Such a suitable for men than for women. It is commonlya
badge may be deliberately
adoptedby the members social ratherthan a solitaryactivitybut is done much
of the groupor may be ascribedto themby others, more in the societyof age mates and peers than with
but when a sectariangroupforbidsdrinkingto its elders or in the family circle.3 Drinking together
theprohibition
is oftendeliberately
takenas generallysymbolizesdurable social solidarity-or at
devotees,
a counterbadge
to separatetheelectfromtheforlorn. least amity-among those who "share a drink" (cf.
The physiological
effectsattributed
to alcoholvary Washburne1961:270).
Drinking is more often consideredappropriate for
just as greatlyamong different
peoples. Some are
readyto feelhigheffectfroma 'modicum
of drink. thosewho grapplewith the externalenvironmentthan
Thus it has seemedto morethanone Westerner
that for those whose task it is to carry on and maintaina
a Japanesemanfeelstheconvivialglowalmostbefore society's internal activities. This distinction was
the firstsip of sake can reachthe stomach.Among ancientlysymbolized in India by the differencebeAleutIndians,drinkinig
leads moretO surlydrunken- 2

282

CURRENT

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ANTHROPOLOGY

Mandelbaum ATC.040IL AND CULTURE

tween the god Indra, the scourgeof enemies,the
thunderer,the roisterer,the heavy drinker,and
Varuna, the sober guardianof order and morality practicesoverthelongcareersof theancientciviliza(Basham 1954:233-238). In ancient Greece, the wor- tions.
In India, for example,changes in alcohol use
ship of Dionysius could transportthe worshiperinto
major changesin social structure.
Drinking
an extraordinary,even frenzied,state; that of Apollo reflected
done
all
men
was
in
an
by
early,
egalitarian
period.
encouragedonly social morality.The Greeks successpervadedand stratifullycombinedthe two by assigningcertainfunctions Then,as themotifof hierarchy
to
and occasions to the one deity and a differentjuris- fied Indian society,drinkingwas accommodated
social
this
theme.
was
for
Liquor
prohibited
certain
diction and festivals to the other. Drinking was a
for others,just as othersocial
prominentfeature of the Dionysian rites but not at castesand permitted
functions
were
specialized
accordingto caste.Within
Apollonian ceremonies(Dodds 1956:69; Guthrie1950:
very
recent
years
there
has
been a shiftto a more
146-149).
egalitarian
though
less permissive
social
alcoholically
In general, warriors and shamans are more likely
code.
Under
the
law
of
several
state
governments
of
to use alcohol with cultural approval than are judges
the
of
Republic
India,
drinking
is
prohibited
to
all
and priests. A priest is generally the conserver of
in thestate.
tradition,the guide and,-exemplarfor his fellows in
The earliest Indian literarysources,the Vedic
precise replication of ritual in ways that please the
makefrequent
of intoxicating
mention
hymns,
liquors.
gods. Drinking rarelygoes with the priestlyperformOne
ritual
was
in
drink
Soma,
used
only
sacrifices,
ance of ritual, except in symbolic usage, as in the
effects,
although
Mass. But a shaman has personal relations with the and describedas havinginebriating
it
may
not
have
been
it
was
alcoholic,
since
pressed
supernatural,must directly encounterpotent forces
from
the
juice
of
a
plant,
mixed
with
milk,
and
drunk
beyond ordinarysociety. Drinking is not often conon
the
same
It
day.
Sura
was
certainly
alcoholic.
sideredas interfering
with this function.
could be preparedfrommolasses,or rice,or possibly
When the fate of many hingeson the action of a honey,and certainkindsweremade only foruse in
singleperson, that person is usually not permittedto sacrificial
ritual.Buttherewas a gooddeal of drinking
drinkbeforeperformingthe criticalactivity.The high outsidetheritualoccasions,and suchdrinking
is conpriestsof the Old Testament,beginningwith Aaron, demnedin theVedic literature
as leadingto quarrels
were particularlyforbiddento drink"wine nor strong and misleading
menfromthepatho-fvirtue(Prakash
drink" when dischargingtheir priestlyduties in the 1961:22-26;Renou 1954:169).
Sanctuary (Leviticus 10:9). Americanpilots today are
Latertherecamea changein thesocialmeaningof
forbiddento drinkfor a numberof hoursbeforeflying
drinkin India. It was eliminatedfromthe
strong
as well as duringthe flight.(Frenchpilots have wine
ritualsforthehighgods;it becamepollutingto those
with theirin-flightmeals, but, as we have noted, that who
The rise
soughtto followtheedictsof scripture.
kind of alcohol is definedas food by the French.)
of Buddhismmay have had some influenceon this
Yet anotherban that appears in various culturesis shiftof Hindu religious
practice,sinceearlyBuddhism
imposed when it is considereddangerousto heighten discountedmere ritual,includingthe ritual use of
the emotionsof large numbersof people who gather alcohol.
at the same occasion. To give but one eloquent exBut alcoholicdrinkswere not prohibitedfor all
ample, there is an inscriptiondating from about the society.The code of Manu says only thatthe Brahyear 5 B.C. near'the stadium at Delphi which forbids mansshouldtotallyabstain.Those of otherstrataof
the carryingof wine into the stadium on pain of a societyneednottakeanydisgracein drinking
butalso
5-drachma fine: The classical scholar who comments could not attain,for that and otherreasons,a high
on thisalso notesthat similarsignsare to be seen now stateof religious
purity(Jha 1926: 70-71,419). Since
at the football stadia of Harvard and Southern the time of
Manu, drinkinghas been sociallyand
MethodistUniversities(McKinlay 1951).
in India. It is totally
religiously
compartmentalized
Drinkingpatternsgive one set of answersto funda- excludedfromtheworshipof thehigh,universalistic
mental questions that must be answered in every godsand fromtheway of lifeof thereligiously
purest
culture.Drinking is inescapably relevantto attitudes people.Many Brahmangroupsare strictly
abstinent,
toward bodily sensations.It is made relevantby most and evenamongthoseBrahmancommunities
in which
peoples to relationsbetween man and woman, to the the men may drinkliquor occasionally,they must
proper interchangebetweenman and man, and to the abstainfromdrink.
whentheyprepareto approachthe
nexusbetweenman and.god.
highdeities.'
cusThe menof the Kshatriya,warriortradition,
CHANGE
AND STABILITY
IN DRINKING
PRACTICES
Sincethisclassprovidedmost
drinkheartily.
tomarily
AMONG CIVILIZATIONS
of thestate,therewas no
of therulersand executives
underindigenous
As a whole culturechanges,so do the drinkingmores morethoughtof total prohibition
of the people change. We can best see evidences of Indianprincesthantherewas underthelaterregime
change an-d also of long-termstability in drinking of the British.Yet the Kshatriyasalso acknowledge
thatthe highgods dislikealcohol,and theyabstain

3 In France and even more so in Italy, wine is assimilated into

the definitionof food and the delightthatgood food brings.Hence
wine is drunk by all around the family dinner table. But other
kinds of drink, cognac for example, are classified in a different
way and drunk in non-familycontexts (cf. Lolli 1958; Stoetzel
1958).

when they seek to be in a state of ritual purity.4

Thereis anotherset of deities,local godlingswho

presideoverlocal illnessand misfortunes,
whoseritual
is carried on mainly by those of the lower castes,
thoughall in village society,high and low alike, may

Vol. 6 * No. 3 * June 1965

283

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seek their interventionfor personal aid. In the ritual

for these deities,liquor is often applied, externallyas
libation,internallyas invigorant.Thus therehas long
been a rigid separation of alcoholic use in Indian
civilization. It was tabooed for those gods and men
who were immersedin cosmic concerns.The influence
of drink in that spherewas considereddisruptivefor
the whole universeof religionand society.But in the
more parochial domain, for local blessings,for village
solidarity, for personal benefitrs,
strong drink was
liberallyused.
Gandhi was stronglyin the ascetic tradition,and,
when the political party that he led took over the
governmentof the country, the ascetic mode was
respected.Many of the political leaders held the belief
that an independentIndia had to be a pure India,
and one way to advance national puritywas by legal
prohibition. This seemed to be quite in the sacred
tradition,but in fact it was in one respecta radical
departure from it. The Sanskritic tradition did not
rule out alcohol for all in society but only for the
most spirituallyelevated. Yet the recentstatutesprohibitalcoholic drinkabsolutely,for all who are within
the territorialbounds of the state.
A modern example of the ancient specialization in
drinkingis given in Carstairs' study of a town of
Rajasthan in western India. Alcoholic drink is still
readily available there,but the Brahmansof the place
do very little drinking.A good many of themopenly
drink an infusionof hashish (cannabis indica) which
gives them a feelingof detachmentquite compatible
with the religiousmeditationenjoined in their scriptures. But the Rajputs of the town, as inheritorsof
martialtradition,spurnhashishand drinkan alcoholic
brew called daru. One Rajput explained that hashish
"makes you quite useless,unable to do anything.Daru
isn't like that; you may be drunk but you can still
carry on" (Carstairs 1957:119). Those of military
heritagechoose alcohol because it helps maintaintheir
traditional posture; those of the priestly,heritage
preferhashish because it helps them to pursue their
eternal verities.The legal arm of the state may, in
time,influencesirchinternalcontrols;it does not alter
them quickly and directly. In India, as elsewhere,
drinkingpractices are tied into fundamentalthemes
of a people's life. While thesepracticeschange as the
conditionsof that life change,legislativeacts are only
one part, and not always a criticalpart, of the total
change.
In Mesopotamia wine was known at JemdetNasr,
dating fromsome time before 3000 B.C. As Sumerian
civilizationbecame establishedaroundthe temple,beer
became an integralpart of templeritual and economy.
It was the popular drink, indeed a staple of diet,
throughouttwo millennia of the Sumerian-Akkadian
tradition.Some 40% of all cerealsgrown,one estimate
has it, went into brewingat one period (Forbes 1954:
279). Not only was beer offeredas part of the temple
service,it was also drunkcopiouslyin beer shops,and
there the drinkingwas not necessarilyseen as being
morallybenign.
4 Scotch whiskeyis put in a special category.It is so costlythat
its main use is as a prestigesymbolfor the wealthiest,and so it is
not nearly "as defiling as is country-madeliquor" (Srinivas
1955:21).

284

The codeof Hammurabi(whocameto powerabout

1720 B.C.) laid down strict regulationsfor tavernkeepersand tavernservants,who were mainlywomen.
Taverns and inns are marks of civilization; they
provide anonymoustravelersand customerswith food,
drink,and shelter,not because of kinshipor personal
obligations,as is usually the case in tribal societies,
but because the customer can pay. Taverns help
maintain a complex society, and Hammurabi was
concerned that they be operated properly. His code
specifiedthe price, the quality, even the credit terms
for beer.
But, because taverns are places where anonymous
people can gather, they could be dangerous to the
regime.One danger was from conspiratorsand outlaws. A tavern-keeperwho tolerated such characters
on her premisescould be put to death. Even more
stringentwere the liquor laws for women who were
dedicated to the gods. Such a woman could not keep
a beer shop or frequentone. If she was convicted of
doing so, she was burned to death, the direst form
of capital punishment.It was imposed only for this
beer crimeand for mother-sonincest(Lutz 1922:127130). Prostitutesalso gatheredat the beerhouses;since
alcoholic euphoria could be had there for money,
so also sexual pleasure. Though alcoholic drink in
Sumer was used in worship and served as a means
of consolidating society, in certain contexts its use
was potentially antisocial and immoral,so the state
triedto eliminatethe disruptiveside effectsof alcohol.
In Egyptian civilization wine and beer were also
staples of diet and ritual. One inscriptionstates that
a good motherprovides her schoolboyson with three
loaves of bread and two jars of beer every day (Lucas
1948:19, 24; Lutz 1922:107). Heavy drinking,to the
point of insensibilityor illness,is frequentlydepicted
in sketchesand descriptionsof banquet scenes.Egyptian taverns,like thosein Mesopotamia,were supposed
to be avoided by the social elite.
The ancient Egyptian writingsinclude a number
of warnings against drunkenness,among them a
touching letter, perhaps from the equivalent of a
student'scopybook,writtenby a teacherto his student.
The teacher writes that he hears that his former
studentis forsakinghis studiesand is wanderingfrom
tavernto tavern.He smellsof beer so much that men
are frightenedaway from him, he is like a broken
oar, which cannot steer a steady course; he is like
a temple without a god, like a home without bread.
The teacher ends by hoping that the student will
understandthat wine is an abominationand that he
will abjure drink (Lutz 1922:105). In ancient Egypt
as in Sumer, alcohol was an essential element for
human welfare when used in one context,a dangerously disruptiveforce in another.But there seems to
have been little attempt by Egyptian state officials
to regulatedrinkingin the mannerof the Hammurabi
code.
Both the moral and the immoral uses of alcohol
are set forthin the Old Testament.Wine is specified
foruse as libationin the templeservice(e.g., Numbers
15:5-10, 28:7-8) but drunkenness
is depictedas leading
to shame and abomination,as in the accountsof Noah
and Lot. Several passages in the Book of Proverbs
warn against wine's dangers,and others mention its
CURRENT

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ANTHROPOLOGY

benefactions; one passage refers to both (31:4-7).

According to one biblical scholar, the antagonistic
view of alcohol is from an earlier, simpler stage of
Hebrew historyand the more tolerantview from a
later period (Jastrow1913).
In the New Testament wine is mentioned as a
festive drink (John 2:3-10), as a medicament(Luke
10:34; I Timothy 5:23), and as supreme symbol
(Matthew 26:27-29; Mark 14:23-25; Luke 22:17-18).
But wine must be drunk in moderation. There are
several disapprovingreferencesto excessive drinking
(I Timothy 3:8; Titus 2:3; Ephesians 5:18).' There is
considerablecontinuityin attitudestoward drinking
in Old and New Testaments,thoughthe symbolicuse
of wine becomes greatlyelevated in Christianity.
Continuitiesin style of drinkingsuggest clues to
culturalstabilities.There is anotherkind of continuity
in drinkingpracthat is of interest;it is the-similarity
tice over a large culture area, among many separate
societies.
CULTURE AREAS IN DRINKING PATTERNS

The functionsof beer-drinkingthat we have noted

among the Kofyar of Nigeria in West Africa are
importantalso among the Tiriki of Kenya in East
Africa (Sangree 1962). Beer is a constantmedium of
social interchangefor men, beer-drinkingis a preoccupyingactivitythat few men reject.Drinkingbeer
togetherinduces physical and social mellowness in
men. Very little aggressivebehavior is ever shown as
a result of drinking, and that little is promptly
squelched. Pathological addiction rarely, if ever,
occurs.The supernaturalsare as fond and as interested
in beer as are mortals,henceworshipersregularlyoffer
beer for the spirits.
This is quite differentfrom the style of drinking
in many Central and South American societies; that
drinking pattern allows or requires men to drink
steadilyinto a state of stupefaction.Drinkingis social,
often done when there is a religiouscelebration,but
not so much poured out for the supernaturalsas
poured into th@celebrants,and always done at fiestas.
Though drinkingis frequentand heavy, no problem
of addiction arises. This patternhas been remarkably
consistentthroughtime and place. It was maintained
by the peoples of the ancient indigenouscivilizations,
the Maya, Aztec, and Inca. It is followed in contemporarysocieties,both Indian and Mestizo, from
Mexico to Chile, in highlands and lowlands. (See
Cooper 1948; Morley 1956:236; Thompson 1940:68.
On modern communitiessee Simmons 1962; Stein
1961; Mangin 1957; Bunzel 1940; Metzger 1963;
Viguera and Palerm 1954.)
5 The 1961 translationof the New Testament,the New English
Bible (NEB), gives wordings differentfrom those in the King
JamesVersion (KJV) in two referencesto wine. The changes may
reflectdifferingviews of alcohol held by the differenttranslators.
I Timothy5:23
KJV: Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy
stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.
NEB: Stop drinkingnothing but water; take a little wine for
your digestions,for your frequentinfirmities.
Titus 2:3
KJV: The aged women likewise, that theybe ... not given too
much wine....
NEB: The older women, similarly,should be ... not slaves to
strongdrink....

ALCOHOL
Mandelbaum

AND CULTURE

This style of drinkingis widespreadbut is not

in Centraland SouthAmerica,
followedeverywhere
as is indicatedin thestudyby Sayres(1956) on three
Colombianvillagesand by Vigueraand Palermon
Tajin, a TotonacMexicanvillage.Whilethemodern
of thispatternhas yet to be tracedin
distribution
detail,the data suggestcertainavenuesof analysis.
CULTURE AND PERSONALITY ANALYSIS OF A DRINKING
PATTERN

To take the extremecase of the Camba of eastern

Bolivia, why does a normalCamba man regularly
drinkhimself
intoa stupor,and on revivingpromptly
wantto drinkhimselfrightback intoalcoholicoblivion?Thereare some80,000Camba in all, livingin
a remotebut fertilegeographicenclave. They are
mostlyMestizopeasants,whohavelittlecontacteither'
withtheneighboring
Indiantribesor withthecenters
of Boliviannationallife.Camba menare amongthe
heaviestdrinkers
on recordfornormalmembers
of a
functioningsociety.

for themis not an unfortunate

Drunkenness
byproduct;it is the explicitlysoughtgoal of drinking
(Heath 1962:30-31). Alcohol is supposedto have
somemedicinalvalue as an internalparasiticide,
but
no otherbeneficent
are attributed
properties
to it. The
Camba could easily make wines or beersof lower
alcoholiccontent,
as do theirIndianneighbors,
or use
other means to prolong a convivial state while
drinking.But what theychoose is a highlypotent
drinkwithveryquickeffect,and thateffectis gross
inebriation.

What explanationcan we findfor thisbehavior?

It seemsto requiresomefurther
exploration.Camba
mengulpdownquantities
of a drinkthattheydislike
in orderto attaina statein whichtheyfeelnothing.
Certainconditions
help maintainthepattern,though
theydo not explainit. Alcoholis cheap and easy to
get; it is themainproductand exportof the region.
The regionis naturallybountiful,
so thesimpleeconomy can be maintainedeven thoughthe drinking
absorbsmuchtimeand energy.
basedon the
Heath offersa tentative
interpretation
natureof Camba social relations.These are fragmented,tenuous,and atomistic.Marriagebonds are
brittle,familiesnotablyunstable,and kinshipties
meager.People shiftresidencea good deal, thereis
and enduring
littlecooperativeenterprise,
friendships
are rare. Heath notesthat all people in the world
value associationwithothersand the Camba choose
to getsuchassociain in drinking
partiesratherthan
in otherways (pp. 32-33).
This seemstrueenough,but therearisesthe questionswhytheychooseto have suchbriefconviviality
associationsoutsidethe aura of alcohol. Perhapsa
singleanswercan be postulatedfor both questions,
based on what seemsto be a deep-seatedpersonality
based on what seemsto be a deep-seated
personality
characteristic.
The Camba individualseemsto be selfisolated, quite like individualsof another South
Americangroup about whom we have more personality data (Simmons1959, 1962).
The men of Lunahuana, a Peruvian town in the

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ofteninto vertshavea stableprimary

group,whichotherCamba
Andean foothills,also -drinkfrequently,
drunken
oblivion.Whiletheirdrinking
practicesdiffer do not have. Threeor fournightsa week theymeet
in detailfromthoseof theCamba,thegrandpattern forreligiouspurposes,call each other"brother,"
and
is quitethesame.Simmonsnotesthattheadultmale interactunderfavorableconditions
in whicheach one
to takeactivepart(1962:33).The memLunahuaneino
maybe characterized,
in part,as timid, is encouraged
evasive,shy,indirect,at a loss for words,uncertain bers of one of these Protestantchurchesform a
knitgroup,consolidated
of his behaviorwhenin the companyof others,in- tightly
by boththeirinternal
ordinately
concerned
with"correct"behavior,always interchangeand their commonoppositionto the
preoccupied
withwhatothersmaythinkof him,and Catholicmajority.So bolstered,
a Protestant
Camba
always timorouslest therebe unfavorablecriticism. doesnotneedto preservesocialisolationamongother
he doesnot have thesameneedforalcoHe seesotherpeople as potentiallydangerousand is Protestants,
even of holic isolation,and he is able to uphold the noncharacteristically
suspiciousand distrustful
drinking
doctrineof his denomination.
peoplehe knowswell.
Normal Camba drunkenness
thus seemsto arise
an
Children
at earlyage.
Theseattitudes
areinstilled
close to home,and froma fearof one'sfellowsand a desirenotto interare taughtto keep to themselves,
This
houses.They act muchwiththemevenwhenin theirpresence.
are punishedif theygo intoneighbors'
are keptaway fromany visitorsto thehomeforfear is quite differentfrom the attitudesof Jews or
thattheywill notbehaveproperly(Simmons1962:41, Italians,whose childhoodtrainingteachesthemto
and to fear social isolation.
44). Each person'ssocial relationsare "markedby a need social interchange
is condoned,
profoundsenseof distrustof othersand a lack of Amongthesepeople,convivialdrinking
in his own abilityto controlthe outcome but isolatedand isolatingdrinkingis, stronglydisconfidence
approved.
of a givenepisodeof interaction."
Some interesting
are suggested
implications
by this
If we assumethattheCamba have similarfearand
distrustof others,similardoubts about theirown analysis.O'ne is relevantto studiesof the use of
by some
abilitiesto cope with social relationsand hence a alcohol,and adds to thethesisablypresented
of thesubject,namely,thatdrinking
behavior
constantattitudeof defensiveself-isolation,
we can students
as an outcomeof fundamental
social
beginto see an answerto the questionsraisedabove. is bestunderstood
of
relations
must
relations
and
that
the
nature
these
It is thata Camba man wantsto have two different
kinds of relationswith his fellows.He wants to be knownbeforethe meaningof drinking,to the
insulatehimselffromthem,and yetat the sametime groupand to the individual,can be recognizedand
treated(cf.Bacon
efficiently
withthem.He achieves anyalcoholicdebilitation
he wantssomesafeinteraction
boththroughdrink.Fromthenormalisolationof the 1944, 1945; Bales 1946, 1962; Pittmanand Snyder
week,he comesto thedrinking
boutof theweekend. 1962 passim).
The otheropens up new queriesin the studyof
For two or threehoursthen,in thefirststageof the
drinking
cycle,warmedby theliquor,he has pleasant South Americancultures.The Camba, as mestizos,
interchange,
is volubleand sociable.But sincehis fear have kept only a very few,minorelementsof the
he does not want protracted tribalIndian culturethat theirancestorscarriedon.
is greatand intrusive,
in their
bouts,and presumably
of isolation.This Yet in theirdrinking
He needstheprotection
sociability.
attitudes
their
share
fundamental
toward
fellows,
they
effectof alcohol.He
he getsthroughthenarcotizing
It is as though
tribesmen.
through ideas withthesurrounding
regularly
proceedsfromnormalself-isolation,
traitsof Indian
superficial
a briefepisodeof non-isolation,
promptlyinto alco- all the surface,manifest,
culturehad been abandonedbut certainof thebasic,
holicisolation.
structural
If thisis so of theCamba,
conceptsretained.
in
Two features
of Camba sociallifegiveevidence
peoples
supportof this formulation.
Both are circumstanceswhat thenof all the otherLatin-American
who
follow
drinking
patterns
that
are
similar
in cerunderwhichCamba mendo not drink.One is at the
tain
main
respects?
Could
the
widespread
importance
annual reunionof the Veteransof the Chaco War,
feltby men
necessity
one of thebloodiestconflicts
century. of "machismo,"the imperative
of thetwentieth
of
these
societies
to
defend
and
theirmanly
validate
There is no drinkingthen,"the-presenceof a prebe
a
qualities,
general
manifestation
of
fear and
of genuinecamaraderiestemming
vailingatmosphere
and a suspicionof otherswhichseemsto be at thebottom
sharedexperience,
froma-past of significant
practices?
basis of Camba drinking
commoncharacteristic
pride may be sufficient
to unitetheveterans,
duringtheirreunion,in a way
STUDIES OF THE USES OF ALCOHOL
which allows warm and easy fellowshipwithout
dependenceon alcohol to overcomeinitialreserve" Both changeand stabilityin drinkingpatternshave
(Heath1962:33-34).The trustbornof havingendured occurredwithinthe frameof thoseways in which
greathardshipand dangertogether
dispelstheirmal
alcohol tendsto be used everywhere.
If we should
distrust.
Hence theparticipants
feelno,defensive
need finda peoplein whichwomenmustdrinkmorethan
to drink,and whentheydo nothave to, theydo not men,in whichdrinking
mustbe donealone or in the
drink.
companyof one's mentorsand dependents,or in
The secondinstanceis that of the relativelyfew whichtheupholdersof scripture
(whethertheological
Camba whobelongto fundamentalist
sects. or political)are expectedto drinkmoreheavilythan
Protestant
is partof thedenominational
but do others,we shouldknowthatwe have encountered
Abstinence
doctrine,

there is another reason that helps explain why these

few are able to deviate from
bthewnormalpattern of
Heath observesthat theseProtestantcondrunkJenness.
286

a societybasically differentfromothersso far known.

Drinking practicescan be studied as expressionsof
pervasive behavioral themes.A pioneeringeffortin
CURRENT

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ANTHROPOLOGY

this directionis Donald Horton's study (1943) on the

functionsof alcohol in primitivesocieties.It was based
on a surveyof reportsof drinkingin 56 tribes.Horton
concludedthat the amountof alcohol used was related
to anxieties created by food scarcity,acculturation,
or war. That is, peoples who were habitually subject
to thesestressesdrank heavily to reduce the anxieties
that were so generated.Horton also noted that heavy
drinking can create anxiety, and he said that the
amount of drinkingallowed in a culture is the outcome of the interplaybetween the anxiety-reducing
functionsof alcohol.
and the anxiety-creating
This formulationhas been foundwantingas a valid
explanation both in general and in particular cases.
Two intensivestudies of drinking,by Lemert among
Northwest Coast Indians (1954) and by Mangin
among Andean Indians-(957), found that drinking
among thesepeople was a means of social integration,
a way of providing needed primarysocial relations,
ratherthan a responseto anxietiesof the kind Horton
mentions.And, fromthe case examples noted above,
it is clear that the use of alcohol in a society cannot
be explained simply as either a solvent or a source
of anxiety. The Camba evidently have none of the
major anxietiespostulated by Horton. In the Indian
village studied by Carstairs (1957), the Rajputs who
drink have not been under any greateranxiety than
the Brahmans who do not. The descriptionof the
beer-centeredKofyar culturegives no hint that Horton's threesourcesof anxietyhave' much to do either
theircontinualthirstforbeer or with
withheightening
quenching it. It well may be that where alcohol is'
culturally defined as a means of relieving anxiety,
tho'se groups and individuals who feel themselves
undergreaterstresswill drinkmore,but we mustnote
that drinkingis not necessarilyso definednor is tensioi reliefnecessarilysought throughdrink.
A more recentstudyby Peter B. Field, entitled"A
New Cross-culturalStudy of Drunkenness,"gives a
critique of Horton's methods and offersa different
explanation."The generalconclusionindicatedby the
findings to this point is: drunkennessin primitive
societiesis determinedless by the level of fear in a
society than by the absence of corporate kin groups
and wellwith stability,permanence,formalstructure,
defined functions" (1962:58). The presence of such
group organization provides controls over heavy
drinkingthat are not available to peoples who have
looser, less well definedkinship organization(p. 72).
To be sure,if a societyhas stronglyintegratedkin
groups whose membersclosely control each other's
behavior, and if heavy drinkingis seen as something
to be kept in check, their-drinkingwill be so controlled.But not everypeople considersheavy drinking
as somethingto be controlledby kinsmen.Drunkenness
is the normal goal of drinkingin a good many South
Americansocieties,some of whichhave tightunilinear
kin organization and some of which do not. Conversely, drunkennessis minimal in many African
societies, some of them with strong corporate kin
groups and some with quite loose kin organization.
In India, thereare both Rajput and Brahman groups
that have all the social features(save only brideprice)
postulatedby Field (1962:72) as being positivelycorrelatedwith sobriety,yet some of the Brahmangroups

ALCOHOL
Mandelbaum:

AND

CULTURE

and the Rajputs are generallyheavy

are teetotalers
drinkers.
EdwinLemerthas proposedyetanotherapproach,
as a symptom
neednotbe considered
thatdrunkenness
of eitherpersonal deprivationor defectivesocial
way of viewing
"Thereis an alternative
organization.
whichis to say as an institutionalized
drunkenness,
way and
autonomous
in a relatively
patternoperating
relatedto otheraspectsof theculture"
onlytenuously
(1956:313). There probably are some societiesin
behavioris fencedoff
which,as Lemertsays,drunken
to be
fromotherareas of behavior'and is considered
perhapsthisoccurred
outsidethecontextof morality;
amongthe Englishgentrywhentherewerealcoholic
menand drunkensquireswhosecondition
remittance
But in mostsocietiesdrunkenness
was politelyigno,red.
sought,as
it may be deliberately
is not disregarded;
as with
discouraged,
withtheCamba,or deliberately
the Kofyar.In eithercase it is closelyrelatedto the
as has been
and drinking,
generalpatternof drinking,
ignored.Most certainly
notedabove,is not culturally
it was not ignoredamongthe Englishupperclasses,
whatevermay have been theirsocial techniquesfor
dealingwithdrunkards.
withtheseand someothertheoretical
One difficulty
to the studiesof alcohol is that their
contributions
and alcoholism.
focus is so greatlyon drunkenness
for themto
Their scope thenbecomestoo restricted
on which
be able to explainwell eventhephenomena
Inebrietyis not reallydissociated
theyconcentrate.
fromthe generalpatternand standardsof drinking,
Hencedrunkenareoverlooked.
evenwheredrunkards
ness cannotbe understoodapart fromdrinkingin
apartfrom
cannotbe understood
and drinking
general,
of socialrelationsof which
features
thecharacteristic
it is part and whichare reflectedand expressedin
At theAmericancocktailparty,
theactsof drinking.
take in
for example,participantsnot infrequently
muchalcohol rapidly.It has been suggestedthat if
morefood were eaten with the drinksor if drinks
of lower alcoholiccontentwere served,the social
of suchoccasionswouldbe enhancedbecause
benefits
effectsof the highintakeof alcohol
the deleterious
would be minimized(Lolli 1961). But whetherfood
is takenor liquorof low alcoholiccontentis offered
We knowthatpersonscan get
is in a senseirrelevant.
drunkon beer as well as on distilledspiritsif they
intendand are expectedto do so; theycan mix food
and alcohol and still get intoxicated.Even more
manycocktailpartiesseemto be mainly
importantly,
occasionsduringwhich one can interactgaily and
witha numberof othersin a way that
superficially
precludesbeingrelativelyseriousand intimatewith
any. If thisis indeedthe real social purposeof the
occasion, rapid alcohol intake helps ratherthan
hindersit.
Alcoholismin the sense of abnormal,addictive,
intakeof alcoholis notthe
compulsive
pathologically
whichcan be quitenormalculsameas drunkenness,
turally,and shouldnotbe confusedwiththestandard
drinking
practicesof any society.In a paperentitled
"Alcoholics Do Not Drink," Selden Bacon (1958)
shows how very differentare the typical practicesof
287

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alcoholics in the United States fromthe usual American ways of drinking.Both drunkennessand alcoholism,and the manifoldsocial,economic,and medical
problemsinvolved in them,will be understoodbetter
than they now are to the degree that they are seen
in relation to each culture'snormal ways of drinking

(cf. Ullman 1958). Once we have clear conceptionof

thesepatterns,we can assessthe themesof personality
that lead an individual to make certain choices in
drinking,and we also can appraise the motifsof culture that become expressed in the kind of drinking
that a people customarilydoes.

Abstract

Changes in drinkingcustoms may offer clues to

fundamentalsocial changes. This is the case in the
historyof Indian civilization. The use of alcohol in
Sumerian,Egyptian,and Judeo-Christiancivilizations
could usefullybe examined from this point of view.
The distributionof drinkingpractices is another
promisingfieldforinvestigation.The kind of drinking
done over large parts of Africa stands in contrastto
the drinkingpatternsused over a large part of Central
and South America. Among a good many South
Americanpeoples, drinkingis done at frequentintervals in prolonged bouts of drunkenness.One of the
most extreme cases in this pattern is that of the
Camba of Bolivia. A tentative analysis of Camba
drinkingsuggeststhat it is a way of controllinginteraction with othersunder circumstancesin which such
interactionis feared or mistrusted.
Drinking patternscan usefullybe studied as manifestationsof pervasive cultural themes.Some of the
earlier studies in this vein can now be supplemented
with more ample data. Cultural studiesof the use of
alcohol have importantimplicationsfor the medical
problemsof alcoholism.

The extensiveliteratureon drinkingpractices raises

some interestinganthropologicalproblems.This paper
is not a review of that literatureor of any major
part of it, but it is ratherintendedto bringto notice
certainproblemswhich meritfurtherattention.
The use of alcohol is generally a matter of considerable cultural interest.It may be tabooed; it is
not ignored. Even a brief account of the range of
drinking practices shows that cultural expectations
define the ways in which drinking,both normal and
abnormal,is done in a society.This is well known to
anthropologistsbut often glossed over in the medical
and behavioral studiesof the subject.
Cultural variations in drinking have been more
often noted by anthropologiststhan have the crosscultural similarities. Where drinking is culturally
approved, it is typically done more by men than by
women. Drinking is more often a social affair than
a solitaryact, and the social group in which drinking
is done is usually composed of age mates and social
peers. Where alcohol is used at familymeals, it tends
to be definedas a food ratherthan as a stimulant.

Comments
By VERA S. ERLICH*

Zagreb,Yugoslavia.3 viii 64
I would like to add siomeof my observations to Mandelbaum's revealing
article. My material is from rural
Yugoslavia, where I carried out surveys on family relations shortly before the 2nd World War (Erlich 1964).
The problem of alcoholism was included in the study, and I received
material from 305 villages. From this
material, the conclusion can be drawn
that cultural traditions determine
drinking habits and attitudes toward
alcohol only under certain circumstances, namely, if some equilibrium
is maintained in the life of the community; if an area is exposed to excessivepressures,the culturaltradition
may be overrun suddenly,and abrupt
changes in attitudes toward alcohol
may occur.
In 7 Yugoslav regions which differed in economic development, religious affiliation,and cultural traditions, alcoholism was very different.
In most groups, historical factors
entered recently were as important
as the traditional cultural definition
which had survived changes in conditions in the past. Only on the
Adriatic littoral did people behave
exactly in accordance with cultural
traditions. In this area, Western in-

fluenceshad prevailedfor centuries, becameinvolvedin the viciouscircle

ina pecuniaryeconomy had entered of poverty,anxiety,drunkenness,
early,and the standardof livingwas crease of poverty and calamities,
andmoreinsoluble
relativelyhigh (or had been high in moredrunkenness,
In somecases,thisoccurred
-the past). National and political problems.
opposed
struggleshad remainedin the back- in spiteof culturaltraditions
ground.The drinkingof alcohol was to drinking.For example,the tradiculturallydefinedas the legitimate tion of the Moslem communityof
way of enjoying oneself, feasting, Bosnia was definitelyopposed to
offeringhospitalityto visitors,and alcohol consumption,in accordance
food calories.People in this with the prohibitionof the Koran,
ingesting
area drank their excellent,sweet, This prohibitionwas relaxed somebut whata longtimeago,whentheKoran
aromaticwinein greatquantities,
to prohibitwine,but
there was never much intoxication; was interpreted
not brandy. More barriers were
was unusual.
drunkenness
In other regions,where therewas broken down duringWorld War I,
less equilibriumin the life of the whenBosniansoldiersreceivedbrandy
communityfor historical,political, to give them courage beforebattle.
and'economic reasons,it seemsthat Underthe Yugoslavstate,whichwas
the same amount of alcohol might founded in 1918, the drinkingof
Desperation brandy increased, and during the
cause heavyintoxication.
seemsto be one of the preconditions '30's excessivedrinkingof wine as
for excessiveintoxication.There is well as brandybecamecommon.This
evidencethat in the Serbian region change in attitude toward alcohol
100 years ago, in a period of ex- caused poverty,decay of mores and
The
and desperation.
pandingeconomyand high political spirit,brutality,
and national hopes, people drank reasonforthismassescapeinto alcounbelievablygreatamountsof plum holismwas concentricsocio-economic
brandywithoutbecomingdrunk.In pressurecomposedof severalfactors:
later periods,especiallyin the dif- 1) the world-wideeconomicdepresficultera of the '30's, men could not sion; 2) the police regime(diktatusra);
consume nearly as much brandy 3) land reform,which dispossessed
withoutbecomingseriouslyand dan- many landowningMoslems; 4) discrimination
gerouslyintoxicated.
againsttheMoslempopuand 5)
In areasundergreatstress,cultural lationby the stateauthorities;
traditionswere overrun.Whole areas the feelingof being declassedwhich

288

CURRENT

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ANTHROPOLOGY

resultedfrommemoriesof the Ottoman Empire,in whichMoslemswere

privileged,and of the Austrianera, By KHWAJA A. HASAN
in which they were well-liked.The
Lucknow,India. 18 vii 64
resultsof theseobjectiveand subjective difficultieswere nearly cata- Mandelbaum has done an excellentjob
in discussingthe cultural implications
strophic.
The attitudestoward alcohol in of the use of alcohol. I fully endorse
anotherBosniangroup,the Christian his view that changes in drinking
(Orthodoxand Catholic)community, patternmay offerclues to fundamental
show that a littleless pressuremakes social changes. In a study of a multia great difference.
In this area, al- caste village of predominantlylower
thoughthe same unfavorablecondi- rank castes, I found that at least 4
tions as those among the Moslems types of alcohol were used by the
prevailed, there was less excessive village folk (Hasan 1961; 1964).
drinking,despite the fact that the These ranged from the use of wine,
cultural traditionhere was rather country-made liquor, to denaturted
favorable to drinking. Since the spirit and toddy.,(obtainedas a juice
pressurewas less severe,therebeing fromfan palm). That people have an
no prejudiceagainstthis group and ambivalent attitude toward alcohol is
no feeling of being declassed,the evident from the high per cent of
resultswere not as terribleas among users (about 72%), but they at the
same time do not give the use of
the Moslems.
The experience
withanothergroup, alcohol a place of honour in society.
the Albanian communityin Mace- For example, if a person wants to bedonia, shows that many factorsare come a Bhagat (devotee), he must
to overpowerculturaltradi- pledge before-his guru (religious prenecessary
tion. The Albanians,also Moslems, ceptor) that he will not consume
conditions
similar liquor, meat, etc., nor will he have
livedunderdifficult
to thoseof the BosnianMoslems,but sexual intercourse(even with his own
theirdrinkinghabitswerecompletely wife) afterbecominga devotee. Howdifferent.
Among the Albanians,the ever,he is allowed to use natural drugs
Koran was strictlyrespected,and like bhang, ganja, and charas, all
neitherwine nor brandy was con- obtained from different parts of
sumed.The explanationfor this dif- Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica.
ferencemay be in that the Albanian It may be noted that membersof any
community entered the Yugoslav caste can become Bhagats. The constatein 1918, directlyfromthe col- clusion is that in the traditionalHindu
lapsing Ottoman Empire. In the society abstinence from alcohol and
Empire,conservativetendenciespre- meat are symbolsof higherindividual
vailed, and the Albanianshad pre- as well as social status, since these
served their tribal and patriarchal are virtues of Brahmins.
social structureunchanged.Bosnia, Mandelbaum correctlypointsout that
on the otherhand,was severedfrom legislativeacts of prohibitionare only
the OttomanEmpire 1 or 2 genera- one part, and not always a critical
tions earlier,having been occupied part, of the total change. This was
by the Austro-Hungarian
monarchy evident in the increase noted in the
in 1878.In Austria,Western,
modern- use of illicit liquor or even denaturted
izing tendencieswere dominant,and spirit among the lower castes of the
the Islamictraditiongraduallyweak- village.
ened; old values came to be seen as
What has bothered me are Mandelrelative,not absolute.These 40 years baum's generalizationson the physioof culturalchangemade all the dif- logical effectsof alcohol and the role
ference.When the difficult'30's ar- of cultural factors in these effects.
rived,theBosnianMoslemsno longer One may agree that the behavioral
had a value orientationwhich could consequences of the use of alcohol
resist the concentricpressure.The may depend upon a people's ideas of
Albanians,however,still rooted in what alcohol, does to a- person. One
their ancient ways and their un- may also agree that only to a limited
broken tradition,showed a formi- extent are the physiological condable resistanceto the pressure.
sequences also governed by cultural
It seemsthat attitudestoward al- conditioning.But that afterthe intake
cohol, althoughpartlydependenton of alcohol the basic chemicalprocesses
the cultural definition,are at the inside the body will also depend upon
same time partlyindependentof it, such factorsis difficultto understand.
following under some conditions Gamba men may be heavy drinkers,
autonomoustoxic laws. Undersevere but that chronic and heavy drinkers
stress,not even as stronga forcefor in this society do not suffer from
maintaining
ancienthabitsand moral neuritis,delirium tremensor cirrhosis

ALCOHOL
Mandelbaum

AND CULTURE

the State of Uttar Pradeshin India

will stopdelayedpoisoning,
attributed'
to the use of methylated
spirit,also
remainsto be proved.
By.DWIGHTB. HEATH*
La Paz, Bolivia.30 viii 64

to
This is an excellentintroduction
the socioculturalaspects of alcohol.
Beverage alcohol is a uniquelyappropriatefocus for interdisciplinary
study,involvinga fairlyobviousinterplay of chemical,physiological,
psychological,and socioculturalaspects,
and it is gratifying
to see more anthropologists
joiningthe collaborative
effortsthat have grown markedly
duringthepast20 years.
But Mandelbaum's
paperis valuable
for morereasonsthan that it draws
of a broad
thissubjectto theattention
of theprofessional
segment
community
who mayneverhave beenparticularly
concernedwithit. Insteadof offering
a comprehensive
review article, he
providessomeexcellentnew material.
His discussion
of "CulturalVariations
in theUse of Alcohol"includesa few
well-chosen
examplesto illustrateanthropological
pointsthatweretoo long
and others,
ignoredby physiologists
and his brief demonstrationof
"Similaritiesacross Cultures" is an
insightful
initialeffortat showingthe
otherside of the coin. We may look
Forward
to seeingothergeneralizations,
based on statisticalcorrelationof
specificdrinkingbeliefs-andpractices
with aspects of child-rearingand
in a largeand diverse
social structure
sample of cultures throughoutthe
world(Bacon,Barry,and Child,forthcoming).
The discussionof "Change and
Stabilityin DrinkingPracticesamong
Civilizations"illustrateswell the inof alcoholwithotheraspects
tegration
of culture.Only duringthepast year
have thereappearedsome studiesof
change and stability in drinking
practicesamongnon-literate
peoples:
the Navaho, by Heath (1964), and
threePolynesiansocieties,by Lemert
(1964); similarmaterialon theEskimos
of Frobisher
Bay is beingpreparedby
Johnand Irma Honigmann(personal
communication).

"Culture Areas in DrinkingPatterns"'have attractedsome attention,

but extensivestudiesare limitedby
the lack of detailed and systematic
local data. An interestingethnohistoricaleffortwas made by Bruman
(1943) on New Spain; G. Webe has
not yetpublishedhis abundantmaterial on the Amazonianarea.
The convergenceof the socio-psystandards as Islam can prevent mass of the liver remainsto be demonstrated chologicaland structural
approachesto
escape into alcoholism, with cata- by medical and public health surveys. the interpretation
of culturalinstitustrophic results for health, property, That the culturally regulated beliefs tions is dramaticallyreflectedin
of the village folk of some parts of

Mandelbaum's

Vol. 6 * No. 3 * June 1965

"Culture and

Per289

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sonality Analysis of a Drinking Pattern." It is virtuallyidentical with my

own, which he characterizes as
"..... based on the nature of Camba
social relations," except where he
ventures to speculate on assumed
similarities between the Camba and
the Lunahuanefios described by Simmons. Although this is only an
example, illustrative of an extreme
form of social drinking, it seems
appropriate to discuss alcohol among
the Camba in more detail, since
the author lent so much weight to this
case.
Mandelbaum's tentative assumption
that the Camba share the "fear and
distrustof others" that characterizes
the people of Lunahuana seems crucial
to his subsequent interpretation,but
is hardly justified by the evidence
available. Similarities in culture are
many and detailed, but I find Camba
personality relatively much more
open than the Lunahuaneino;certainly
there is no such restriction on the
children.
What I take to be Mandelbaum'skey
conclusion-"Normal Camba drunkenness thus seems to arise from a fear
of one's fellows and a desire not to
interact much with them even when
in their presence"-sounds eminently
plausible, but contributeslittle to our
understanding of another type of
Camba drinking pattern, the sedate
toasting which characterizes a wake,
which is amply described in my
article cited by Mandelbaum as well
as in the somewhat more detailed
originalversion(Heath 1958). Furthermore, if we look at the context in
which drunkenness occurs, we find
that the individual Camba does not
thus escape from interactionnearlyas
effectivelyas he might. The drinking
group persists while the individual
subjectively (but not physically)
"comes" and "goes." His fellows are
there whenever he wakes up from a
sleep or from "passing out," and he
enthusiasticallyrejoins the party as
though he had never withdrawn. If
drinkers sought to escape from the
burden of sociability,we mightexpect
to find an institutionalizedway for
themto do so much more effecti-vely.
Another kind of support for my
emphasis on the importance of the
drinking group as a referencegroup
on rare and sporadic occasions for
social interaction in an atomistic
society is that of analogy: Camba
drinking patterns are in many ways
similar to those of sailors ashore after
a voyage, cowboys or lumberjacks"on
the town," the farmers of Chichicastenango at market (Bunzel 1940),
the homeless men of "Skid Row"
(Straus and McCarthy 1956), and so
forth.
Relcentchanges in Camba drinking
patternsprovide what I considereven

strongersupport.(Several brief re- and systematicstudies of normal

studies have yielded the following drinkingpracticesin societies.Not
data, which were not available to only have many authorsfocusedon
or otherabnormal
spectacular
orgiastic
Mandelbaum.)
The typicalweekendfiestawhichI kinds of drinking,to the neglectof
describedearlier has virtuallydis- prosaic and familialuses of alcohol,
appearedin thepast 6 years,and rites but manyhave also failed to distinof passage and religiousfiestasare guishbetweenattitudestowarddrinkthe individualinmarked by far less drinkingand ing, drunkenness,
drunkenness
than was previouslythe ebriate,and his drunkenbehavior,all
case. During the same period, most of whichmaybe verydifferent.
Camba farmers
develophave joinedsindicatos, Therehasbeenconsiderable
"peasant leagues," which were mentin anthropological
studies,but
establishedin order to enlist mass the fragmentary
literature
is scattered
supportfor the MovimientoNacio- throughout
a numberof journalsthat
nalista Revolucionario (Nationalist few anthropologists
see regularly;my
RevolutionaryMovement),the in- paper cited by Mandelbaumcontains
of theprincipalstudies
cumbentpoliticalpartywhich came a bibliography
to power by revolutionin 1952 and to thatdate,and I regretthatI canintroduceda major restructuring
of not providea fullerdiscussionof the
the previouslyfeudal social order, recentliterature
becauseI am writing
throughland reform,universalsuff- thiswhilein the field.
As a tangentialnote whichmay be
rage, and nationalizationof major
industries.
Sindicatosserveas channels of interestalso to anthropologists
throughwhich the party dispenses whose concernswill never focus on
patronage,and as corporateentities the subjectof alcohol, we could all
throughwhichsmall-scalefarmers
are learnmuchfromthesystemof biblioencouragedto take advantageof new graphical compilation, abstractin_g,
law-s.Membership
beneficial
maycom- and otherkinds of information-proprisetheformer
tenants
ofan hacienda, cessingin whichtheRutgers
University
or unrelatedindividuals.
Bothtypesof Centerfor Studieson Alcohol,New
groupswere promptedby party or- Brunswick,New Jersey,U.S.A., has
ganizersto band togetherand were longexcelled.
rewardedfor jointlypetitioning
that
land be expropriatedfromlandlords By JOHNJ.HONIGMANN*
and re-allottedto them.Membersof Chapel Hill, NorthCarolina,U.S.A. 20 ix 64
I will call attena sindicatoare, thus,unitedin their By way of comment,
claim to social and economicbenefits tion to a promisingline of research
of the revolution,
as well as in their not mentionedby Mandelbaum.Inoppositionto what politicianshave stead of studyingdrinkingbehavior
taughtthem to considerthe unjust globally("drinkinghabitsof the soconcentration
of land in thehandsof and-so"),in somecommunities
it will
a few.Theygratefully
supportthein- be worth while to heed the way
cum,benrt
partyat frequent
anid drinkingvaries with social position.
meetings
wheretheycall each This means not only using sex
demonstrations,
othercompanero(comrade).In many categoriesbut also occupationaland
thesindicatonow servesas a otherstructural
divisionsrecognizable
respects,
primaryreferencegroup for most in the community.
Relationshipsbein muchthesameway tween drinkingand social category
Camba farmers,
that the Protestant
new insightsinto the
does can contribute
congregation
for its members.The coordinate conditionsthat channel drinkingor
declinein drinking-bouts
is striking, abstinenceunderrelativelycontrolled
and sindical activity has replaced conditions.
For example,amongthetown-dwellfrequentheavy drinkingin the lives
of manyindividuals.
ing Eskimoof FrobisherBay, Baffin
The social structure
of any society Island,Northwest
Territories,
Canada,
undoubtedlyreflectsthe cumulative Irma Honigmann and I discovered
decisionsof innumerable
individuals, that consumerswho secured their
and throughthe ages theirdecisions beer and liquor fromthe territorial
have been coloredby idiosyncratic
as liquor store could be categorizedas
well as socially shared personality eitherhigh or low purchasers.The
characteristics.
The intery between two categorieswere then found to
cultural institutions
and personality divergein certainsocialcharacteristics.
patternsis complexand reciprocal,as High purchasers
are mostoftensteadhas beenrepeatedly
demonstrated.
But ly employed,
male,wage-earning
heads
unsupported(and inaccurate)specu- of familiesin their30's and early40's.
lationsabout personality
electedleaders are
add littleto The community's
ourunderstanding
of drinking
patterns well representedamong high puror any otheraspectsof culture.
chasers. High purchasers,in other

I share most of Mandelbaum's reservations concerning "Studies of the

Uses of Alcohol," and enthusiastically
endorse his appeal for more detailed

words, are men who have closely

assimilated town life and shed
previous traits of Eskimo culture,like
hunting and trapping. Men in this

290

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ANTHROPOLOGY

AND CULTURE
ALCOHOL
Mandelbaum:
categorymorerarelyfailedto renew
theirliquor permits,when new rules
It is true,as Mandelbaumasserts, ships.
of buyingfromthe liquor storewere
I am inclinedto thiukthataddictive
introduced,
than did low purchasers. thatquitea numberof alcoholstudies
better in so-called primitivesocietieshave, alcoholismprobablycan arise in any
showedsomewhat
High spenders
abilityto drinkand yet stay out of dealt with inebriety.This, however, society.Culturalvalues may have a
incidence
trouble with police. The evidence: has been a functionof the data; in bearingon its differential
but justhow they
theyhave appearedin courtless fre- many of these societiesthe modal in varioussocieties,
quently than low spenders.As a patternof drinkingis that of in- operateis not clear. As Linton said
category, low purchasersmanifest toxication and drunkenness.Hence years ago, culture gets expressed
inebriety throughsocial organization,and to
greater social heterogeneity.
Again thereis no questionofrelating
heads of familiespredominate,but to the "generalpatternand standards me the most importantvariable in
the categoryincludes more young, of drinking"in such societies.The social organizationas it bears on
is socialcontrol.
have author's insistencethat this must drinking
unmarried
men.Low purchasers
spottier employmentrecords and always be done revealsthe insidious By WILLIAM MADSEN*
enjoy steady employmentless fre- ease withwhichtheconceptof culture
Lafayette,
Indiana,U.S.A. 29 ix 64
quently,meaningthey also earn less gets reifiedby its devotees;it also
Mandelbaum
has
presentedan exin
tone
reflects
an
moralistic
obvious
social
wages. Of thosewho received
assistancethelow spendersweremore his discussion.It seemsclear to me cellent cross-culturalanalysis of
patterns
demonstrating
a wide
than twice as numerousas the high thathe has writtenwithsomekindof drinking
spenders.Only one low purchaser normativedrinkingpatternin mind, range of variation.He suggestsimmost likelythat of the Italians and portantproblemsfor anthropological
ranksas a leader.
researchon cultureand alcohol.
From such data we concludethat Jews.
Althoughthe conceptof patterned A primary problem is that of
as measuredby
alcohol consumption
purchasesmade at the liquor store behavior or of values taught as a defining the cultural norm and
cultureis useful deviationfromthenorm.We need to
(attendanceat the tavernis another patternin a integrated
matter,whichI will notgo intohere) in explainingdrinkingand inebriety ask how much deviation from the
in norm is tolerated and how the
correlatesdirectlywitheconomicand amongsomepeoples,it diminishes
social status. Such purchases re- importancefor others.The latter is distinctionis made betweennormal
presentsone mark of a full-fledged particularlytrue in societieswhose and abnormaldrinking.As Mandelis the
Eskimo townsman.We can predict cultureshave been attenuatedand baum pointsout, drunkenness
and fragmentedby social change and norm for festiveoccasionsin many
thatas employment
opportunities
culturesand should
standardsof living increasein Fro- technological specialization-which Latin-American
most societiesin not be equated with alcoholism.
bisherBay so will liquorconsumption probablyrepresents
the world today. It mustbe kept in Snyder (1958:183) identifies the
(Ronald Cohen 1962:100).
mind that drinkingand drunkenness distinguishing
featureof alcoholism
By EDWIN M. LEMERT*
notonlyof culture as "the inabilityof the drinkerto
maybe expressions
Davis, California,
U.S.A. 4 ix 64 patternsbut of collectivebehavior, controlor regulatehis drinking
within
individualdemorali- the bounds of social propriety."
I am impelledboth to praise and symbolicprotest,question Mandelbaum'swell-phrased zation,situationalcontrols,and social Definingtheboundsofsocialpropriety
Thuswhileskid-row
drink- in a givencultureis preciselythetask
briefforthe importance
of culturein interaction.
studyingalcohol use. There can be ing has the semblanceof a pattern, of the anthropologist.
Folk societies generallylack the
littlequarrelwith his argumentthat it is muchmoreplausibleto regardit
the stock tool of anthropology- as the resultof a kind of interaction extremedeviationfromthenormthat
is often found in modern urban
by thesituation.
patterned behavior-is highly im- structured
My workon drinking
bypresent-day societies.In a heterogeneous
portantin understanding
how, why,
society
when,and whichpeopledrink,and in Samoans leads me to concludethat like ours,we need to definenot only
large part what expressivebehavior group interactionand social control thedrinking
normof themajoritybut
getsassociatedwithintoxication.
than culture also the different
This are far moresignificant
normsof our subthe author quite ably demonstratesvalues in understanding
or predicting culturalgroups,abstemiousreligious
witha varietyof historicaland com- the occurrence
of theirdrinking.
This sects,and certainruralregions.Conparative materials,which he brings is particularly important because flictbetweenthesenormsappearsto
togetherwith
nimpressive virtuosity. drinking
amongthesepeoplehas arisen be a contributingfactor in the
His culturalperspective
gainsfurther and occursin a contextof illegality developmentof alcoholism(Snyder
meritfromthe interesting
hypothesis and continuous
controls.
repressive
1958:189-192).
of inebrietyit has suggested or
The most questionable assertion Change in drinkingnormsis disgenerated.
madebyMandelbaumis thataddictive cussedby Mandelbaumas a reflection
Some of Mandelbaum'scomments, drinkingis primarilyunderstandable of internalchangesin socialstructure.
liowever,were surprising
to me. His in termsof culture.At bestit can have We also needto knowhow theprocess
general theme,that the relationof only marginalsignificance.
altersdrinkingpatCertainly of acculturation
drinkingand inebrietyto culture the idea that thereis some kind of terns.The disruptive
effect
of enforced
patternsand valueshas beenignored, one-plus-one
relationship
betweencul- acculturationis illustratedby the
overlooked,or indifferently
exploited ture and personalityin the develop- change in Aztec drinkingpractices
by social scientistsdoing alcohol ment of addictivealcoholismis un- afterthe Spanish Conquest.In prestudies,suggeststhat the authorhas tenable.Apartfromthemethodological Conquest times, drinkingwas persampledratherthan conversedcom- problemof keepingpersonalityand formedas an act of devotionat Aztec
pletely with the literatureof the cultureseparatein empirical
analysis- religiouscelebrations,
wherethe high
field.Whilethisdialecticalprocedure a no mean one-there is no evidence priestand rulersbecameintoxicated
to
may be an unavoidableprerequisite of acceptedworthto showa relation- please the gods. Seculardrinking
was
to establishing the priority or dis- ship between personalitytypes or largelylimitedto the sick and the
tinctivenessof a theoretical point of "themes"and alcoholism.This has aged, who enjoyed the privilegeof
view, it has some unfortunate not beendue to any lack of efforts
to getting drunk. Under Aztec law, in

proprietaryand patronizingovertones.

toxication was a capital offense and

Vol. 6 * No. 3 * June1965

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291

only individualsover the age of 70 His concludingparagraphseems to as a social reagentand as a sedativefor

conflicts.
were exemptfromthe death penalty implythatthetaskof theanthropolo- personality
for this crime. Consistentpopular gist is to studythe normaldrinking It is also possible that alcoholism
drunkenness
was unknown,according patternsprescribedby culturerather may be symptomaticof the growing
to Gibson(1964:150). The Aztecsre- than the abnormalpracticesof indi- sense of social isolation felt in modern
copnized alcoholic addiction as an viduals. Yet, the very fact that industrial societies where close,
affliction
of individualswho had the alcoholism is primarilya Western enduringties with the communityare
misfortune
of being born with the diseasesuggeststhe possibility
that it often lacking. It is significant that
fate of becomingdrunkards.Spanish may be fosteredby commonsocio- the exceptionallyhigh rate of sobriety
destruction
of Aztec tribal rule and cultural factorsin certain Western among Orthodox Jews is associated
worshipwas followedby widespread societies.As Lemert (1962:555-556) with cherishedfamilyties, community
solidarity,strongreligiousfaith and a
vagabondage,secular drinking,and observes:
ritual drinking pattern learned early
intoxication.
This changein drinking
the
in
social
thatrapid
change
in childhood. The relation of drinking
patternshas been attributedto the It is possible
felt patternsto cultural configurationsand
150 years,whichhas beenstrongly
demoralization
causedby the collapse last
in Western societies and is emergent
of nativeinstitutions
(Bunzel1959:73- throughout
the world, has enhancedthe processes is difficultto measure, but
74; Gibson1964:149-150).
Suchthings such broad considerations deserve as
valuesof alcoholicintoxication.
Mandelbaum'spaper does not deal as cultureconflict,
stress,and anomiemay much attention as the narrower task
with alcoholismexcept to note its havegrownto suchproportions
thatalcohol of investigatingcultural directive?for
rnritvoutitdeof Westerncivilizait1on. in manysocietiesis increasingly
valuable the use of alcohol.
India, the use of alcohol is ritually and that kind of behaviorshouldbe
defilingwhilethe use of commonIn- studiedin order to grasp the signidian narcoticsis not.Hasan is correct ficance of both normal and nonBy D. G. MANDELBAUM
in statingthata highintakeof alcohol normaldrinkingbehavior.
4 of the comments
deal, quiterightly, must lead to the usual physiological The emphasisof the paper on this
whateverthecultureor society. point leads Lemertto commentthat
of understandingeffects,
withthe importance
of cultureaLnd
changes in the use of alcohol, an What has been shown by both ex- it reflectsa reification
studiesis an obviousmoralistic
tone,mostlikely
and comparative
aspect of the -subjectwhich is not perimental
givensufficient
attention
in thepaper. that therecan be quite wide differ- based on some kind of normative
Madsen'snoteson theeffects
of accul- encesin the behavioraleffectsof in- drinkingpattern.To deny that one
turation,
of gestinga given amount of alcohol who writes on drinkinghas some
Ehrlich'son the influence
of his ownon thesubon socialand culturalinter- value-attitudes
socialand economicstress,
and Honig- depending
mann'son variationby socialposition pretationsof the contextof drinking. ject would be eitherto deny a main
are dimensions
of the researchprobThe most seriousexceptionto the pointof thepaper,thatdrinking
patlemwhichseemto me to be worthy
of paper is takenby Lemert.At least 1 ternsare of somemomentin societies
intensivestudyto carryforwardthe of his objectionsis, I think,mainly wheredrinkingis done,or to saythat
very usefulwork which has already a matterof terminology.
He notes an author is not influencedby the
been done by theseauthors.
that "drinkingand drunkenness
may values of his social time and place.
Heath's remarkson recentchanges be expressionsnot only of culture However, an anthropologistshould
in drinkingamong the Camba are patternsbut of collectivebehavior, not allow such values in respectto
especiallyinteresting
here becausethe symbolicprotest,individualdemorali- drinkingto underminethe most obarticle makes extensivereferenceto zation,situationalcontrols,and social jectiveanalysisof the subjectofwhich
I includeunderthe term he is capable.If thispaperlacks such
his fineaccount.The markeddecline interaction."
in Camba drinkingwithin6 years, "culture"thosepatternsof social con- objectivity,it certainlymerits the
coincidingwith the advent of new trol and of collectivebehaviorwhich criticism.
social-political
groupings,
is an occur- are regularlyused even thoughthey
Finally,Lemertindicatesthat the
rence that may well become,when are not formallyor explicitlytaught. paper is wrongin statingthat social
On thematterof addictivealcohol- scientistsdoing alcohol studieshave
documented
and analysed,one of the
classic case examplesin the anthro- ism,I agree withLemertthat addic- overlookedtherelationbetweendrinkpological literatureon alcohol. This tion can probablyarisein any society ing and culture.I thoughtthatspecial
new evidenceseemsto fitat leastpart and that we have no good evidence tributewas givento thesesocialscienof theformulation
in thepaperwhich on any close relationbetweenper- tistsin severalpassages,notablyin the
attemptsto link heavyCamba drink- sonality type and addiction. What paragraphwhich cites several refering with both social and personality seemsto me to be true is that the encesto ". . . thethesisablypresented
factors.As Heath points out, the generalnatureand incidenceof alco- bysomestudents
ofthesubject,
namely,
formulation
does not explainthekind holismin a societycannot be ade- that drinkingbehavioris best underof drinkingdone at a wake or the quatelyunderstoodwithoutreference stood as an outcomeof fundamental
successiverejoiningsof a drinking to the patternsand meaningsof non- socialrelations.. ." I believethatvery
partyby a drinker.The use of Sim- addictivedrinking.
Madsen'scomment muchof thewritingon alcoholism
and
mons' personality observations in refersto the distinguishing
featureof the social problemsof drinkinghas
Lunahuana'is questionedby Heath as alcoholismas the inabilit-yof the been done by medicalmen and other
appliedto theCamba situation.While drinkerto control or regulate his specialistswho have not looked as
it mightbe possibleto argueherefor drinking
withinthe boundsof social closelyat the social and culturalfacthetentative
explanationin thearticle, propriety.
Hence we mustknowwhat torsas -havethe social scientists
who
it would be gratuitous
to do so. The the acceptedboundsof proprietyare have worked in this field. Even
pointof presenting
sucha formulation in orderto know the natureof the thoughwe may questionone or anis to stimulatea betterexplanationif behaviorwhichis outsidethem.Where otherof theirhypotheses,
it would be
one is indicated.Heath is best quali- inebriety(to be distinguished
from an injusticeto slightthe contribution
fied to give us a furtheranalysisof addictive alcoholism)is normal, it of thesesocial scientists
to a subject
this instructivecase.
stillis usefulto studythewholerange thatholdsso muchtheoretical
interest
Hasan's comments
call attentionto of drinking.Relative sobrietymay and practicalimportance.
the fact that amongmanygroupsin thenbe outsidethe social proprieties,

Reply

292

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ANTHROPOLOGY

Mandelbaum:ALCOHOL

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No. 3

June 1965

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