Introduction: Alcohol, Age, Generation and the Life Course., Thomas Thurnell-Read and Laura Fenton.- Part I: Alcohol, Generations and Social Change.- From Abiding to Accelerating to Anomic: Generational Waves of Change in Irish Drinking Culture, 1845-Present,  John O’Brien.- Realities or Mythologies: England’s rural pubs and the life course, Claire Markham.- Biographical and Generational Perspectives on Drinking in a Mediterranean Culture, Franca Beccaria.- ‘I Would Never Dream of Drinking on a Lunch Hour, But…’: Intergenerational changes in attitude towards alcohol consumption, Lyn Brierley-Jones and Jonathan Ling.- Part II: Alcohol, Youth and Adolescence.- Alcohol Use, Age, and (In)Appropriateness: Young adults’ conceptions and performances of ‘age’ in contexts of alcohol use, Maria Dich Herold and Vibeke AsmussenFrank.- If You Can’t Beat Them, You Join Them’: Peer pressure and drinking to belong among Nigerian youths, Emeka Dumbili, Shifting Conceptions of Moderation, Risk and Danger amongst Non-Drinking University Students in the UK: A Case Study of Hyper-Moderation, Henry Yeomans, Adam Burgess and Laura Fenton.- Part III: Alcohol in Adulthood.- Blackening the Bride and Stripping the Stag: The Role of alcohol, gender and age in prenuptial wedding rituals, Thomas Thurnell-Read and Shelia Young.- Female Drunkenness and the Life Course in Victorian Lancashire, Craig Stafford.- De-Gendering Alcohol through Food Pairing: Women’s Shifting Position as Culinary Consumers in Japan, Swee-Lin Ho.- ‘There’s nothing classy about a drunk 40-year-old’: Drinking biographies and ‘sobriety stories’ amongst women who stop drinking in midlife and beyond, Emily Nicolls.- Part IV: Alcohol in Later Life.- Alcohol Use, Its Meaning and Impact in Older Age, Beth Bareham and Jennifer Seddon.- Alcohol Consumption in Older Drinkers and Its Links to “Successful Ageing”, John Foster and Betsy Thom.- ‘I Don’t Drink Much Now ‘cos I’m Old’: The Life-course and changing drinking practices among older male adults in Nigeria, Ediomo-Ubong Nelson.

"This fascinating collection examines relationships between alcohol, age and generation and illustrates how people across the life course actively construct their identities through drinking narratives (or sobriety stories), and how attitudes to drinking mirror changing power relationships over time and space. Importantly, this book challenges the notion that there is a simple, linear relationship between age and drinking."- Carol Emslie, Glasgow Caledonian University, UKThis volume explores generational differences in alcohol consumption practices and examines the changing role of alcohol across the life course. It considers generational patterns in where, how and why people buy and consume alcohol and how these may interact with identity and belonging and considers how drinking alcohol in adolescence, adulthood, middle-age or later life takes on different functions, meanings and tensions.Alcohol is shown to play an important role in biographical transitions, such as in the coming of age rituals that mark the passage from adolescences to adulthood, whilst drinking alcohol in adulthood and in later life takes on new meanings, pleasures and risks in light of shifting roles and responsibilities relating to work, leisure and the family. The empirically-informed contributions draw on a range of diverse disciplinary backgrounds and a range of cultural contexts provides a nuanced examination of the role of alcohol at different life course stages and explores both continuity and change between generations.Thomas Thurnell-Read is Senior Lecturer in Sociology in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Loughborough University, UK. His research on drinking culture has been published in leading international journals and he is a regular contributor to national and international media debates relating to pub culture, alcohol and drunkenness.Laura Fenton is a Research Associate in the School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield and in the School of Environment, Education and Development at the University of Manchester, UK. Her areas of expertise include alcohol, youth, gender, the life course, and biographical methods.

"This fascinating collection examines relationships between alcohol, age and generation and illustrates how people across the life course actively construct their identities through drinking narratives (or sobriety stories), and how attitudes to drinking mirror changing power relationships over time and space. Importantly, this book challenges the notion that there is a simple, linear relationship between age and drinking."- Carol Emslie, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK

Explores how drinking alcohol in adolescence, adulthood, middle-age or later life takes on different functions Analyses generational patterns regarding where, how and why people buy and consume alcohol Provides an international and comparative focus using case studies

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