The New Policy Mix: Alcohol and Harm Minimization - Dissertation Example

The New Policy Mix: Alcohol and Harm Minimization Introduction This study is inclined towards discussing the concept of social science, which mainly emphasizes on the local variations in youth drinking cultures. The main aim of this paper is to explore the various factors that has influenced the youth generation towards drinking. The study conducted reflects on the concept of big night out drinking which has become a trend for the young generation today and it motivates the young people in drinking beyond their limits in the evening hours. Drinking is considered as one of the leisure activities of the young people. The case study focuses on the fact that social conformity and curiosity can be considered as one of the driving force that has compelled the young people in indulging themselves towards alcohol consumption. Regular drunkenness is observed more among the youth culture of UK. It has been observed that the young generation treats drinking as a source of entertainment rather than getting drunk. It has created several issues and therefore laws and regulations have been introduced by the government in order to restrict such practices. This study has also emphasized on the fact that apart from the negative aspects of drinking behaviours among the youth mass, there are also positive attributes related to drinking behaviour of the youth generation. Drinking culture has been developed over time and it has increased the number of social interactions between the friends and other peer groups within the social environment. The extent of drinking behaviour is observed more in the urban areas as compared to the rural areas. Discussion Research methods form the basis for conducting the research study. Different methods have been used for analyzing the case. These methods are considered as the framework for analyzing the case. The two research methods that are used in this study are quantitative and qualitative methods. In this paper the researchers paper the researchers has focused on analyzing the topic local variations in youth drinking cultures. It has been observed that the young people in the age group between 15 – 24 years spent their leisure time in drinking. This study is focused on analyzing various factors that influences the young generation to consume alcohol. The role and the attitude of the parents are also taken into consideration for analyzing the case. The entire study is based on the behaviour of the young generation towards the drinking. The research emphasizes on the fact that the young generation are more prone to drinking as compared to the middle and old age segment of the population .The researchers has also highlighted on the various issues related to alcohol consumption among the young generation (Leach, 2005). Application of the research methods in this study Qualitative method has been used by the researcher for analyzing the topic in this study. Data Collection: Both primary as well as secondary data has been used for analyzing the case. The primary data collection method is associated with gathering of information. The researchers have collected the data by conducting survey in the UK market. Secondary data has also been used in this study. The various secondary sources that have been used by the researcher for collecting information are through journals, magazines, articles etc. For conducting the research the researchers have focused on the target group by segmenting the people on the basis of their age bands. The three groups that are formed by the researchers are 15-16 years old, 18-19 years old and 22-24 years old. The research has been conducted in north east and south east England. The places in South England where the research is carried out are Small town, Market town, Techno town and castle town and the places in North east England includes the Shopping world, River city, Historic Haven, Fun City and Bland park. The customers within the age group of 15-24 years are more addicted to alcohol consumption. It has been observed that the people in the age group 15-24 years prefer spending their time attending parties and socializing themselves with friends and peer groups. The concept of good night out includes the groups that prefer to visit the bars and the dancing clubs influences and attracts the young generation within the age group 15-24 years. The researcher has observed that the respondents of different places in UK where the research is conducted has presented different vies for supporting the consumption of alcohol. The researchers have emphasized that friendliness and dressings up are the factors that influences the youngsters towards drinking (Measham, 2006). The researcher has also thrown light on the various circumstances that compel people to drink. House parties can be considered as an example for explaining such circumstances. Most of the house parties that are conducted include drink. The house parties are considered as the source off socializing with their friend and peer groups. Drinking in house parties are supported mostly by the middle aged people since it saves money as they belief that visiting the clubs and bars for the purpose of drinking leads to high expenditure therefore they prefer drinking at homes and organizing weekend parties at their home (Roberts, 2009). The researcher has also observed and analyzed that the people also tend to drink during occasions where people generally prefer to celebrate with their family members. The researchers in their study have used the modified grounded theory for gathering the information and analyzing the data. The analysis was undertaken both at an individual as well as at a group level. The individual analysis has been conducted by the researchers for identifying the culture and the environment that has motivated them towards drinking. While conducting the research the researchers has also emphasized on the behavioural and cultural theory of the target audience that motivates them towards consumption of alcohol. The study has been conducted for analyzing the fact that the consumption style differs according to the variation in culture and location of the people. The researchers are of the view that there are various environmental as well as social factors that influences the consumption of alcohol of the target audience. The research that is conducted in the south east England provides different view of the target audience as compared to the research that is conducted in the North east England (Roberts, Townshend, Pappalepore, Eldridge and Mulyawan, 2012). The behavioural theory that is applied by the researcher in this study indicates that the lack of leisure activities also provokes the young people within the age group 15 to 16 years to spend their time in drinking. The researchers has observed that the focus group abiding in the South East England are involved in various leisure activities for spending their time on the other hand the people of North East England are not much involved in leisure activities therefore they are prone to drinking for spending their leisure time (Roche and Dehan, 2002). The researcher has identified that there are both negative as well as positive aspect associated with alcohol consumption. The researcher in their survey has identified various social issues that may arise from alcohol consumption. The researcher has gathered the report from The North West Public Health Observatory, according to which the consumption of alcohol has caused harm and damages to the society. Some of the social issues resulting from drinking are the crimes that has occurred in the society due to drinking such as eve teasing, involved in various litigations related to murder etc, admission in hospital due to over drinking which has lead to an accident and degradation in health such as chronic liver diseases etc. The various social problems due to overconsumption affect severely both the individual as well as the society. The researchers has identified that over consumption is required to be restricted. The researcher has identified that the youngsters within the under 18 years of age should be prohibited from the consumption of alcohol and therefore adequate measures are required to adopted that is arrangement of proper leisure activities for the people. The youngsters generally prefer drinking at the bar and clubs at late night which may lead to the occurrence and introduction of various issues in the society. Since late night parties encourage towards over consumption of alcohol .As a result they may encounter problems in the bars and the night clubs. Attending of bars and late night club is not advisable for the female youngsters. The researchers has identified that over drinking may lead to the increase in accidents and damages in the society. Therefore the various social issues related to drinking are required to be minimized for maintaining a balance in the society. Various legal and regulatory policies are required to be imposed on the underage people consuming alcohol. Parents are expected to impose restriction on the underage youth who are involved in over consumption of alcohol in bars and night clubs (Room, 2004). The role and the function of the researchers in this study are identifying the factors that influence the target audience towards drinking alcohol. The researchers has identified that the factors varies according to the location or the places of the customers. Since the focus group is influenced by the social and environmental factors which encourages them towards drinking (Room, Babor and Rehm, 2005). The researcher has conducted the primary as well as secondary research in two parts of England that is in South East England as well as in North East England which identifies that the view and the preference of the customers varies according to the surroundings and the environment. The researcher has also focused on the occasions in which the young generation generally prefers to drink. The issues and the problems associated with it as well as the positive and the negative impact of drinking has been analyzed by the researchers. The researchers in order to gather adequate and relevant data has conducted survey in the target segments by preparing questionnaire in order to analyze the factors that influences the youngsters. The researcher has also collected information from various reports as well as article published in relation to the youngsters drinking. The legal and regulatory policies and framework are also taken into consideration for conducting the research (Szmigin, Griffin, Bengry-Howell, Weale, Mistral and Hackley, 2008). The researcher has conducted the research by collecting the information from both the primary as well as secondary sources. But the limitations or the loopholes in this study are the researchers have focused more on qualitative analysis whereas quantitative analysis has not been performed. Quantitative research includes analyzing the data or the information by the application of various statistical tools. The quantitative analysis increases the efficiency and the effectiveness of the study. The researchers has only collected the data by preparing questionnaire and conducting market survey but the researcher has not applied statistical tools in analyzing the data collected. The researcher has not prepared any pie chart or bar diagram for the analyzing the information that is gathered by the researcher. The paper would have been more relevant through the application of quantitative method in this study (Valentine, Holloway and Jayne, 2010). The researcher has conducted the research by considering the culture, leisure environment, and drinking and regulation aspects. The researcher has focused on qualitative analysis of the data and information. The main aim of this research is the factors that influence the youngsters in drinking. The researcher has also considered the regulations that are imposed on the drunkards. The researcher has also considered the activities and the leisure environment that encourages and develops drinking habits among the target groups. The researcher has conducted the research in North East and South East England and it has been observed that the youngsters of north east England are more prone to drinking as compared to the youngsters of South East England, since the youngsters in North East England treats alcohol consumption as a source of entertainment and they do not have to travel to far distances for its consumption as compared to the youngsters located in the South East England. The researcher has selected this topic for discussion because alcohol consumption is considered as the important area for discussion in social science. The researcher has also identified various regulatory policies that influence the drinking consumption among the youngsters (Valentine, Holloway, Knell and Jayne, 2007). The findings derived by the researcher in this study are that the youngsters prefer night out with their near ones which encourages them to consume alcohol. The house parties that are organized also include drinking. The researcher in order to conduct more in-depth analysis on the topic is required to identify the important aspects related to the level of commitment, the issues related to managing of intoxication and the alcohol related harm Conclusion Drinking is considered as an important element for socializing with their friends and peer groups. The researcher in order to analyze the information has conducted the research on two important places of England in which the researcher has observed that the factors influencing the consumption of alcohol varies according to the place of living. The analysis indicates that the underage consumption of alcohol is required to be prohibited. The youngsters emphasizes on controlling their drinking behaviour. There are consumers who prefer sophisticated drinking. Sophisticated consumption is supported since it reliefs stress and provides entertainment. The researcher has analyzed that the culture influences the alcohol consumption of the target audiences. The researcher has also analyzed that most youngsters consider drinking as a means of socializing and an alternative of entertainment. The researcher also indicates that the parents are required to impose restriction on the underage youth towards alcohol consumption. The researcher suggests that strict rules and regulations are required to be imposed on over consumption of alcohol. References Leach, N., 2005. Belonging: towards a theory of identification with space, 15 (2), pp. 297−311 Measham, F., 2006. The new policy mix: alcohol, harm minimization, and determined drunkenness in contemporary society, International Journal of Drug Policy, 17 (1), pp. 258−68 Roberts, M., 2009. Planning, urban design and the night-time city: still at the margins criminology and criminal justice, 9 (4), pp. 487−506. Roberts, M., Townshend, T., Pappalepore, I., Eldridge, A., and Mulyawan, B., 2012. Local Variations in Youth Drinking Cultures. [Pdf]. Available at: < http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/young-people-alcohol-England-full.pdf >. [Accessed on 14 May 2015]. Roche, A. and Dehan, A., 2002. Women’s alcohol consumption: emerging patterns, problems and public health implications’, Drug and Alcohol Review, 21 (1), pp. 169−78. Room, R., 2004. Disabling the public interest: alcohol strategies and policies for England Addiction, 99 (9), pp. 1083−1093. Room, R., Babor, T. and Rehm, J., 2005. Alcohol and public health, The Lancet, 365 (1), pp. 519–530. Szmigin, I., Griffin, C., Bengry-Howell, A., Weale, L., Mistral, W. and Hackley, C., 2008. Reframing binge drinking as calculated hedonism empirical evidence from the UK, International Journal of Drugs Policy, 19 (5), pp. 359−366. Valentine, G., Holloway, S. L. and Jayne, M., 2010. Generational patterns of alcohol consumption: continuity and change, Health and Place, 16 (1), pp. 916−25. Valentine, G., Holloway, S. L., Knell, C. and Jayne, M., 2007. Drinking places: young people and cultures of alcohol consumption in rural environments, Journal of Rural Studies, 24 (1), pp. 28−40. Read More