A will to health? Drinking, risk and social class

Abstract

This article explores risk conceptions related to alcohol use among Danes who drink ‘too much’ (based on the National Health Board’s standards for safe drinking). It analyses drinking patterns and risk management strategies among interviewees from different socio-economic backgrounds, and explores the differences between the behaviours and conceptions of these individuals and the risk advice and definitions provided by health agencies. The article shows that people from different socio-economic backgrounds respond differently to the neo-liberal strategy of alcohol risk minimisation, with middle- and upper-class participants being more in tune with the public health ethos of alcohol consumer ‘autonomisation’ and ‘responsibilisation’. Cutting across socio-economic differences, though, are risk conceptions that clash with the public health model of risk prevention. While the risk communication of the health agencies builds on the logic of ‘a will to health’, drinkers at relatively high consumption levels tend to prefer other rationales, associating alcohol use with socialisation, pleasure and relaxation, and defining alcohol risks in terms of ‘addiction’ rather than detrimental health effects. The article contributes to the discussion of the ‘prevention paradox’, showing that rational initiatives at a general population level are not always comprehended as such at the individual level.

Keywords:

• risk
• alcohol consumption
• public health
• prevention paradox
• Foucault

Acknowledgement

The author wants to thank Trygfonden, Denmark for supporting this study. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers and the editor of Health, Risk and Society for their valuable help in revising the article.

Notes

1. The National Health Board has recently introduced limits for ‘safe drinking’. These are 7 units of alcohol per week for women and 14 units for men. Hence, the health board operates with two sets of limits: one set defining a ‘low risk of getting ill’ (< 7/14 units) and another defining a ‘high risk of getting ill’ (> 14/21 units). One unit equals 12 g of alcohol.

2. The article is based on a larger research project on alcohol habits, risk behavior and risk conceptions. The other members of the research team are: Lars Fynbo, Christoph Houmann Ellersgaard, Anton Grau Larsen, Maja Thorsteinsson and Sandra Christine Åbo Pedersen.