The Trouble with Drinking: Alcohol, Health and the Regulation of Life

by Helen Keane, David Moore, Mats Ekendahl

Overview

Alcohol is everywhere—in our everyday lives, in public debates and, increasingly, at the centre of public health policy.

This book critically examines alcohol as a contemporary research and policy object. It argues that drinking is governed through heavily freighted concepts such as risk, wellbeing, gender and race. The authors interrogate dominant disciplinary sobriety and moderation frameworks, highlighting the overlooked aspects of sociability, pleasure and self-transformation.

In scrutinizing the intensifying public health spotlight on alcohol, the authors issue a call to rethink what it means to live “well” in an era when health is both a personal imperative and a regulatory discourse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529246230
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2026
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Helen Keane is Professor of Sociology at The Australian National University.

David Moore is Honorary Professor of Sociology at The Australian National University.

Mats Ekendahl is Professor of Social Work at Stockholm University.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Regulatory Concepts

1. Risk: Drinking Guidelines as Insurance

2. Harm: Expert Knowledges and the Regulation of Subjects

3. Health and Wellbeing: Fear and the Imagining of Desirable Futures

Part 2: Modes of Government

4. Gendered Drinking: Women and Harmful Use

5. Intoxication, Addiction and the Racialised Biopolitics of Alcohol

Conclusion