Contemporary Consumption Rituals

A Research Anthology

Cele C. Otnes, Tina M. Lowrey

• Publisher: Psychology Press
• Year: 2004
• eBook ISBN: 9781135635619
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Consumer Behaviour
• Index: Business

Bringing together scholars in consumer behavior, history, anthropology, religious studies, sociology, and communication, this is the first interdisciplinary anthology spanning the topic of ritual studies. It offers a multifaceted exploration of new rituals, such as Celebrating Kwanzaa, and of the ways entrenched rituals, such as Mardi Gras, gift giving, and weddings have changed. Moreover, it examines the influence of both cultures and subcultures, and will enhance our understanding of why and how consumers imbue goods and services with meaning during rituals.

In this volume, the first in the Marketing and Consumer Psychology series:

• a religious studies scholar talks about the media representation of ritual;
• communication scholars discuss the transformational aspects of rituals surrounding alcohol consumption;
• a marketing scholar demonstrates the relevance of organizational behavior theory to understanding gift-giving rituals in the workplace; and
• a historian describes how the marketing of Kwanzaa was so integral to its successful adoption.

Part I
Consumer Rituals and the Media

1
Drinking Rituals Among the Heaviest Drinkers: College Student Binge Drinkers and Alcoholics

Joyce M.Wolburg
Marquette University

Debbie Treise
University of Florida

I have watched the people I love most lose everything to drugs and alcohol, and yet I still drink in excess…. About a year ago, we were a family ravaged by addiction and on the brink of disaster…. So why, after all the suffering…do I continue to drink in excess, often to the point of alcoholism myself? The answer: I’m young, I’ll live forever, and it will never happen to me. (Wolburg, 2001, p. 29)

This quote reflects the questions that heavy drinkers ask themselves during moments of introspection, as well as the glib denial of the problem and its consequences. Considering the risks that drinkers take, the question—“Why do I continue to drink in excess?”—baffles not only the drinkers themselves, but also many university administrators, psychologists, and developers of public service announcements (PSAs).

To find some answers to the question of why people drink, this chapter examines the ritualized drinking behavior as reported across multiple published studies. In particular, it examines the behavior of two important groups, college student binge drinkers and alcoholics, who “literally keep the industry afloat” (Jacobson & Mazur, 1995). Jacobson and Mazur estimated that members of these two groups make up the 10% of the adult population who drink about 60% of all alcohol consumed (p. 165).

Defining the two groups presents a set of challenges in itself. Binge drinkers are traditionally defined by the amount of consumption, whereas alcoholics are defined by the amount of dependence on alcohol. A team of Harvard researchers defined binge drinkers as men who drink five or more drinks at a single sitting and women who drink four, regardless of dependence on alcohol or level of impairment (Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995). In contrast, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism uses the term alcoholic to specify alcohol dependence regardless of consumption level, although it is typically excessive (NIAAA Report, 2002). The person who is alcohol dependent experiences cravings for alcohol; loss of control over amount of consumption; physical dependence, which includes withdrawal symptoms when alcohol use is stopped; and greater tolerance for alcohol, which requires greater amounts of alcohol to “get high.” The NIAAA distinguishes between those who are alcohol dependent and those who merely abuse alcohol. It defines alcohol abuse as a recurring pattern of heavy alcohol intake that results in one of the following situations within a 12-month period: failure to fulfill major responsibilities; drinking in situations that are physically dangerous, such as driving; having recurring alcohol-related legal problems, such as being arrested; and continued drinking despite relationship problems. For this chapter, the term alcoholic refers to those who are dependent on alcohol.

The chapter asks two research questions:

1. What insights are gained for understanding the meaning of drinking among the heaviest drinkers (binge drinkers and alcoholics) by examining alcohol consumption from a ritual behavior perspective?

2. How can these insights be incorporated into treatment strategies and PSAs?

The first research question is important because the ritual behavior perspective offers different insights into excessive alcohol consumption than other perspectives. It provides a way of making sense of this seemingly inexplicable behavior, which is important because many people, moderate drinkers and non-drinkers in particular, have difficulty understanding why drinkers put themselves and others at such risk. In the case of alcoholics, the repetitive, self-destructive behavior can be partially attributed to the addictive nature of alcohol. However, college students have had less time to become dependent on alcohol. Their abuse of alcohol is more likely to be by choice than addiction.

Excessive drinking among college students would be easier to understand if binge drinkers consisted only of students with the lowest GPAs. Although one of the consequences of excessive drinking is poor academic performance (Presley, Meilman, & Lyerla, 1993), many binge drinkers are intelligent students with high GPAs. Parents, school administrators, faculty members, and others who promote responsible drinking are often frustrated and dismayed by the behavior of intelligent students who should “know better.” The ritual behavior perspective offers insights into the benefits and the meaning of drinking that go beyond the intoxicating effects of alcohol.

The second question addresses applications of the insights gained through the first question. Because PSA developers typically create messages aimed at the general population, they have not attempted to promote abstinence but instead encourage “responsible drinking.” Most of these messages call for drinking in moderation or behavior modifications associated with drinking (e.g., designating a driver). In contrast, those who treat alcoholics typically set a goal of abstinence rather than drinking in moderation.

This question also addresses the need for message strategies that treatment providers and PSA developers can utilize. Past efforts often have tried to communicate risk through fear appeals in the logical hope that drinkers will take heed and modify their behavior (LaTour & Rotfeld, 1997). However, because not all drinkers are fearful, nor do they necessarily behave rationally, the strategy has been less effective than expected. This in turn has prompted a search for other approaches and message strategies to curb drinking. Because the ritual approach allows us to identify elements of drinking behavior that constitute ritual enactment and to understand the functional benefits of the drinking ritual, we can get past a superficial understanding of the behavior and look at what drinking means to the participants.

Before attempting to answer the research questions, we briefly examine the great toll alcohol takes on society.

SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

The problems and costs that alcohol consumption present in the United States are overwhelming. Alcohol misuse has been associated with numerous behavior problems, including domestic violence, rapes, child abuse, fires, accidents, and falls, and alcohol consumption has been associated with diseases such as cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, and heart disease (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). The estimated “cost of illness” of alcohol abuse in the United States was $185 billion in 1998, up from $148 billion in 1992 (Harwood, Fountain, & Livermore, 1998). Diminished productivity topped the list of losses from alcohol-related illnesses at $87.6 billion in 1998. The NIAAA (2002) estimated that nearly 14 million Americans abuse alcohol or are alcoholics, with several million more engaging in risky drinking that could lead to alcohol abuse or dependency.

The most sobering statistics are those obtained for motor vehicle accidents among young people. Although fatalities for youth alcohol-related accidents have fallen 5% since 1995, the figures remain quite alarming:

• In 1999, 2,238 youth (ages 15–20) died in alcohol-related crashes—or 35.1% of their total traffic fatalities.

• In the 18- 20-year-old group, 41.7% of traffic fatalities were alcohol related, as compared to 37.9% for the total population (National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, 1999).

In April 2002, the NIAAA released a report that outlined the problem of high-risk drinking on U.S. college and university campuses. The institute made the following claims:

• Nearly 1,400 students die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries including motor vehicle crashes.

• More than 500,000 students are unintentionally injured while under the influence.

• More than 600,000 students are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.

• More than 70,000 students are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape.

• More than 400,000 students had unprotected sex, and more than 100,000 report they were too intoxicated to know if sex was consensual.

• Between 1.2% and 1.5% said they tried to commit suicide due to drinking or drug use (NIAAA Report, 2002).

Despite well-funded, comprehensive campaigns targeted to college-age binge drinkers, the national percentage of students who binge drink has held steady at 44% from 1993 to 1999 (Wechsler, Kelley, Weitzman, San Giovanni, & Seibring, 2000). For example, a 5-year, $770,000 campaign to curb binge drinking at the University of Delaware resulted in only a 3% drop (from 62% to 59%) in the number of students who binge drink (O’Sullivan, 2001).

The Center for Science in the Public Interest reported that college students spend $5.5 billion on alcohol—more than that spent on books, soft drinks, and other nonalcoholic drinks combined—and more college students are expected to die from alcohol-related causes than those who will later receive master’s and doctorate degrees combined (Had Enough Campaign, 2001)

RITUAL MODELS

According to Rook (1985), ritual behavior involves four tangible components: ritual artifacts, a ritual script, ritual performance roles, and a ritual audience. Alcohol consumption easily fits Rook’s model of ritual behavior because the act requires an artifact (the alcohol itself, as well as the proper clothes and accoutrements), a script (rules that specify who can and cannot drink legally, when drinking can occur, where it should occur, transportation arrangements to and from places where drinking will occur), a performance role (how to drink, how much to drink, how to behave while drinking), and an audience (peers, bartenders, campus personnel).

While Rook (1985) focused on the structural elements of the ritual, Driver (1991) focused on the needs that are satisfied through ritual behavior and identified the functional elements. Driver’s functional model names three “social gifts” of ritual that provide: order in society, a sense of community, and transformation. Order is achieved because routines are strongly established, which are not only comforting in themselves, but also give participants the security that their behavior is enacted correctly. Community is established because ritual not only brings people together in close physical proximity but also bonds them emotionally. Finally, transformation occurs because “social life in general…requires ceremonies and rites, those quasi-dramatic enactments that define people’s relationships and also make possible their transformation as part of the social dynamic…. These events change things, and do so by the technique of ritual—that is, by magic” (p. 169).

Clearly, when the drinking ritual is examined within Driver’s functional model, evidence for the three social gifts easily emerges. The discussion returns here to the first research question (What insights are gained for understanding the meaning of drin...

Table of contents

• MARKETING AND CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY SERIES
• Contents
• Series Foreword
• Contributor Biographies
• Preface
• Part I Consumer Rituals and the Media
• Part II Holidays and Consumption
• Part III Wedding Rituals Across Cultures
• Part IV Gift Exchange
• Part V Pushing the Boundary of Ritual
• Part VI Afterword
• Author Index
• Subject Index