Alcohol Helps to Stimulate and Violate the Air

Drinking Games and Transgressive Drinking Practices among Nigerian Youth

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2392295
AutoresEmeka Wilfred Dumbili (0000-0002-3563-1617, Institute for Therapy and Health Research, Germany, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen28
Número4
Páginas1110-1129
Fecha de publicación2023-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociological Research Online (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1360-7804 • E-ISSN: 1360-7804
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/13607804221133118
OpenAlexW4312126583
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas48

In traditional Nigeria, moderate drinking was normative among adult men who occupied drinking spaces. Heavy drinking and intoxication were transgressive behaviours that attracted sanctions. Alcohol consumption among youth was taboo in most communities. Nowadays, young people drink, and many construct identities with heavy drinking and intoxication. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with students and nonstudents in Benin City, I explore how young people's participation in drinking games (DGs) facilitates heavy drinking, intoxication, and transgression of the local consumption norms. 'Mere arguments', betting, and assertions of masculinity initiate DGs, while fun, economic gain, and the construction of social identities motivate gameplaying. Aside from other DG categories, participants played a localized version of Truth-or-Dare, where losers are mandated to undress in public- or drink-specified quantities of alcohol. DGs were mostly played at bars and parties, which encouraged heavy drinking and drunkenness. DGs generate fun for players and partygoers; thus, party hosts often include gameplaying in party programmes. Winning a DG attracts titles like 'boss', 'champion', or 'guru' and a reputation among men. Therefore, they played DGs to reproduce/authenticate their masculinity and achieve such titles and prestige, while women mostly played DGs to win money, phones, and bags. Many participants' gameplaying resulted in heavy drinking, intoxication, and loss of control that subverted the local consumption culture, which prohibits heavy drinking and promotes moderation. The findings demonstrate how transgressive behaviours can be enjoyable to transgressors and also function as resistance to social norms/structures that encourage dominance/inequalities

Criminology · Masculinity · Overconsumption · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Gambling Behavior and Treatments · Gender Studies · Psychology · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology