ALCOHOLthe body’s total blood volume (which is deter-
mined mainly by the person’s body weight). This
concentration is usually referred to as the BAC
(blood alcohol content) or BAL (blood alcohol
level). A 150-pound man can consume one alco-
holic drink (about three-fourths of an ounce) every
hour essentially without physiological effect. The
BAC increases with each additional drink during
that same time, and the intoxicating effects of
alcohol will become noticeable. If he has four
drinks in an hour, he will have an alcohol blood
content of .10 percent, enough for recognizable
motor-skills impairment. In almost all states, oper-
ating a motor vehicle with a BAC between .08
percent and .10 percent (determined by breatha-
lyzer or blood test) is a crime and is subject to
arrest on a charge of DWI (driving while intoxicat-
ed). At .25 percent BAC (about ten drinks in an
hour) the person is extremely drunk, and at .40
percent BAC the person loses consciousness. Ex-
cessive drinking of alcohol over time is associated
with numerous health problems. Cirrhosis of the
liver, hepatitis, heart disease, high blood pressure,
brain dysfunction, neurological disorders, sexual
and reproductive dysfunction, low blood sugar,
and cancer, are among the illnesses attributed to
alcohol abuse (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism 1981, 1987; Royce 1990; Ray and
Ksir 1999).
SOCIAL FACTORS IN ALCOHOL
BEHAVIORAlcohol has direct effects on the brain, affecting
motor skills, perception, and eventually conscious-
ness. The way people actually behave while drink-
ing, however, is only partly a function of the direct
physical effects of ethanol. Overt behavior while
under the influence of alcohol depends also on
how they have learned to behave while drinking in
the setting and with whom they are drinking with
at the time. Variations in individual experience,
group drinking customs, and the social setting
produce variations in observable behavior while
drinking. Actions reflecting impairment of coordi-
nation and perception are direct physical effects of
alcohol on the body. These physical factors, how-
ever, do not account for ‘‘drunken comportment’’—
the behavior of those who are ‘‘drunk’’ with alco-
hol before reaching the stage of impaired muscu-
lar coordination (MacAndrew and Edgerton 1969).
Social, cultural, and psychological factors are more
important in overt drinking behavior. Cross-cul-
tural studies (MacAndrew and Edgerton 1969),
surveys in the United States (Kantor and Straus
1987), and social psychological experiments (Marlatt
and Rohsenow 1981), have shown that both
conforming and deviant behavior while ‘‘under
the influence’’ are more a function of sociocultu-
ral and individual expectations and attitudes than
the physiological and behavioral effects of alcohol.
(For an overview of sociocultural perspectives on
alcohol use, see Pittman and White 1991)Sociological explanations of alcohol behavior
emphasize these social, cultural, and social psycho-
logical variables not only in understanding the way
people act when they are under, or think they are
under, the influence of alcohol but also in under-
standing differences in drinking patterns at both
the group and individual level. Sociologists see all
drinking behavior as socially patterned, from ab-
stinence, to moderate drinking, to alcoholism.
Within a society persons are subject to different
group and cultural influences, depending on the
communities in which they reside, their group
memberships, and their location in the social struc-
ture as defined by their age, sex, class, religion,
ethnic, and other statuses in society. Whatever
other biological or personality factors and mecha-
nisms may be involved, both conforming and devi-
ant alcohol behavior are explained sociologically
as products of the general culture and the more
immediate groups and social situations with which
individuals are confronted. Differences in rates of
drinking and alcoholism across groups in the same
society and cross-nationally reflect the varied cul-
tural traditions regarding the functions alcohol
serves and the extent to which it is integrated into
eating, ceremonial, leisure, and other social con-
texts. The more immediate groups within this
sociocultural milieu provide social learning envi-
ronments and social control systems in which the
positive and negative sanctions applied to behav-
ior sustain or discourage certain drinking accord-
ing to group norms. The most significant groups
through which the general cultural, religious, and
community orientations toward drinking have an
impact on the individual are family, peer, and
friendship groups, but secondary groups and the
media also have an impact. (For a social learning
theory of drinking and alcoholism that specifically
incorporates these factors in the social and cultur-
al context see Akers 1985, 1998; Akers and La