Abstract
In this chapter, we reflect on the discourses of deficit theme in the context of our study of young people and alcohol in the UK, and in light of the way the UK’s alcohol problem is constituted in public policy discourse. We chose one policy document in particular because it came directly from the UK Government cabinet office and focused prominently on young people. This was called Safe, Sensible, Social: The Next Steps in the National Alcohol Strategy (Department of Health 2007). The document was produced in a climate of moral panic over ‘binge drinking’ (Measham 1996), which it defines (p. 3) as ‘drinking that leads to drunkenness’ and its damaging economic, social and health implications. It sets out the rationale for policy at national and local level. The stated overall aim of policy as expressed in the document (p. 1) is to promote ‘a sensible drinking culture’. We explore further the implications of the differing possible definitions of ‘binge’ and ‘sensible’ drinking below.
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© 2011 Chris Hackley, Andrew Bengry-Howell, Christine Griffin, Willm Mistral & Isabelle Szmigin
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Hackley, C., Bengry-Howell, A., Griffin, C., Mistral, W., Szmigin, I. (2011). Young Peoples’ Binge Drinking Constituted as a Deficit of Individual Self-control in UK Government Alcohol Policy. In: Candlin, C.N., Crichton, J. (eds) Discourses of Deficit. Palgrave Studies in Professional and Organizational Discourse. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230299023_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230299023_16
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