“A Cool Little Buzz”: Alcohol Intoxication in the Dance Club Scene

Abstract

In recent years, there has been increasing concern about youthful “binge” drinking and intoxication. Yet the meaning of intoxication remains under-theorized. This paper examines intoxication in a young adult nightlife scene, using data from a 2005–2008 National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded project on Asian American youth and nightlife. Analyzing in-depth qualitative interview data with 250 Asian American young adults in the San Francisco area, we examine their narratives about alcohol intoxication with respect to sociability, stress, and fun, and their navigation of the fine line between being “buzzed” and being “wasted.” Finally, limitations of the study and directions for future research are noted.

Keywords :

• intoxication
• alcohol
• youth
• Asian American
• club cultures

THE AUTHORS

Geoffrey Hunt is Professor at the Centre for Alcohol and Drug research at the University of Aarhus, Denmark and Senior Scientist at the Institute for Scientific Analysis in San Francisco. Dr. Hunt is a social and cultural anthropologist, who has had 30 years experience in planning, conducting, and managing research in the field of drugs, alcohol, and youth studies. He is currently the Principal Investigator on an NIH project on Asian American Gay and Bisexual Men, Club Drugs, and Nightlife. In addition, Dr. Hunt has been involved in a number of large scale comparative international projects on such issues as drugs and the Nighttime Economy and drug and alcohol treatment. He has published widely in the field of substance use studies in many of the leading sociology, anthropology, and criminology journals in the United States and the United Kingdom. He and colleagues have just published “Youth Drugs and Nightlife” (Routledge, 2010) and “Drugs and Culture” (Ashgate, 2011).

Molly Moloney, Ph.D., is a Sociologist at the Institute for Scientific Analysis in California. Her research has focused on a number of subject areas including: masculinities, femininities, and parenthood among youth gang members; gender, sexuality, and ecstasy use in the rave scene; the regulatory environment and the changing nighttime economy; and Asian American youth and young adult illicit drug use. What connects these different projects together is an emphasis on interpretive socio-cultural inquiry that is attentive to meaning, culture, and consumption and a focus on the intersections between identities (gender, sexual, and ethnic) and substance use.

Adam Fazio received his B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology and French at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont. He served as a research associate and project manager at the Institute for Scientific Analysis from 2007–2012 and currently works at Local Matters in Columbus, Ohio.

Notes

1 Parental consent was obtained for the interviews with minors under age 18.

2 All names used to identify respondents are pseudonyms.

3 We do not wish to suggest that no research has been done on pleasure and substance use, but instead to emphasize the extent to which such issues have been generally neglected. For examples of research on pleasure, substance use and addiction see Duff (2007); Ettorre (1989); Hayward (2002); Moore (2008); Moore and Measham (2008); Peele (1985); and Warburton (1994, 1996).